Silver

specimen number:
2062337

location:
Laurium Mine, Houghton Co., Michigan, USA

description:

Crystallized native silver in a branching grouping without matrix. In good condition. This was acquired by Ray in 1949.

The Laurium mine, located in Calumet Township near the village of Laurium in Houghton County, Michigan, was an underground copper mine situated within the historic Keweenaw Copper Mining District. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within the Portage Lake Volcanics, a thick sequence of Paleoproterozoic basaltic lava flows and interbedded conglomerates where hydrothermal fluids deposited exceptional quantities of native copper and native silver alongside secondary minerals like epidote, quartz, and pumpellyite within the porous, vesicular flow tops. Organized as the Laurium Mining Company, the operation officially opened in 1907 and involved sinking a deep shaft to exploit the southern extension of the Kearsarge lode. The mine operated through a period of intense regional labor unrest, participating as an employer party during the famous Copper Country strike of 1913 and 1914, before economic challenges and declining ore grades led to its permanent closure around 1920.

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