Turquoise

specimen number:
2133412

location:
Bishop Mine, Lynch Station, Campbell Co., Virginia, USA

description:
Micro crystals of turquoise along one side of matrix. Classic locality for the species.

The Bishop mine (often referred to simply as the Lynch Station locality), located near Lynch Station in Campbell County, Virginia, is a historic copper property famous for its exceptional micro-mineral specimens. Geologically, the deposit consists of localized copper mineralization hosted within metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont province, specifically occurring as secondary copper carbonates and silicates along fractures within the Neoproterozoic Mount Athos Formation. The primary economic interest at the site centered on a unique zone of bright green turquoise and distinct pseudomorphs of malachite after cuprite. Small-scale mining and exploration operations began in the late nineteenth century, around 1885, with miners opening shallow shafts and pits to test the commercial viability of the copper-bearing veins. Due to the limited size and sporadic nature of the ore body, large-scale industrial development never materialized, and formal mining operations ceased entirely by the early 1900s.

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