Cuprite with Copper

specimen number:
2282040

location:
Ray Mine, Pinal Co., Arizona, USA

description:
A cluster of native copper crystals, these hosting lustrous deep red crystals of cuprite. In great condition.

The Ray mine, situated near Kearny in Pinal County, Arizona, is a massive open-pit copper operation located within the metal-rich copper province of the southwestern United States. Geologically, the deposit is a premier example of a porphyry copper system, where primary copper mineralization, chiefly chalcopyrite and pyrite, was introduced during the Laramide orogeny into Precambrian schist and younger granitic porphyry intrusions. Subsequent weathering and supergene enrichment formed a valuable, shallow zone of high-grade copper chalcocite, along with abundant secondary oxides and silicates like chrysocolla and malachite in the upper levels. Underground mining at the site began on a small scale in the 1880s, but large-scale, systematic underground operations commenced around 1911 under the Ray Consolidated Copper Company. The property transitioned from underground extraction to an open-pit mining method in 1948 and has remained in continuous, major industrial production for over a century, through various corporate ownerships, right up to the present day.

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