Native copper

Native copper is an uncombined form of copper which

occurs as a natural mineral. Copper is one of the few
metallic elements to occur in native form, although it most
commonly occurs in oxidized states and mixed with other
elements. Native copper was an important ore of copper
in historic times and was used by pre-historic peoples.

Dendritic native copper encased in transparent

gypsum, Mission Mine, Pima County, Arizona,
USA.

Native copper occurs rarely as isometric cubic and octahedral crystals, but more typically as irregular masses and
fracture llings. It has a reddish, orangish, and/or brownish color on fresh surfaces, but typically is weathered and
coated with a green tarnish of copper(II) carbonate (also
known as patina or verdigris). Its specic gravity is 8.9
and its hardness is 2.53.[5]

Native
Copper,
Michigan,USA

Halfbreed copper-silver
County, Michigan, USA.

Keweenaw

Keweenaw
Peninsula,

2 See also
Copper Inuit

The mines of the Keweenaw native copper deposits of

Upper Michigan were major copper producers in the
19th and early 20th centuries, and are the largest deposits of native copper in the world.[6] Native Americans mined copper on a small scale at this and several
other locations,[7] and evidence exists of copper trading routes throughout North America among native peoples, proven by isotopic analysis. The rst commercial mines in the Keweenaw Peninsula (which is nicknamed the extquotedblCopper Country extquotedbl and
extquotedblCopper Island extquotedbl), opened in the
1840s. Isle Royale in western Lake Superior was also a
site of many tons of native copper. Some of it was extracted by native peoples, but only one of several commercial attempts at mining turned a prot there.[6]

3 References
[1] Handbook of Mineralogy
[2] Copper, WebMineral.com, retrieved 2009-12-04
[3] Copper, MinDat.org, retrieved 2009-12-04
[4] Klein, Cornelis and Cornelius S. Hurlbut, Manual of Mineralogy, Wiley, 20th ed., 1985, pp 259-260 ISBN 0-47180580-7
[5] Native Copper. Amethyst Galleries Mineral Gallery.
Retrieved 2005-06-26.
[6] Michigans Copper Deposits and Mining. Archived
from the original on 2005-09-09. Retrieved 2005-06-26.
(Web archive; click cancel when it asks for authentication.)

Another major native copper deposit is in Coro Coro, Bolivia.

The name copper comes from the Greek kyprios, of
Cyprus, the location of copper mines since pre-historic
times.[3]

nugget,

[7] Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and Seth Eastman (1851).

Historical and statistical Information, respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the
United States: Coll. and prepared under the direction of
the Bureau of Indian Aairs per act of Congress of march
3rd 1847, Volume 1. Lippincott, Grambo. pp. 223229.
Retrieved July 17, 2011.

Gallery
Specimens from notable native copper localities
worldwide

4 Further reading

Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia.

Thurner, Arthur W. Strangers and Sojourners - A

History of Michigans Keweenaw Peninsula (Detroit,
Michigan, U.S.A.: Wayne State University Press,
1994) ISBN 0-8143-2396-0.B

Native copper cementing host rock, Ray Mine, Arizona. Click & scroll down for a detail photo.
Itauz Mine, Kazakhstan.

Prehistoric Copper in Wisconsin. Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center. Retrieved 2005-06-26.

Tsumeb, Namibia.
1

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EXTERNAL LINKS

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6.1

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Native copper Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_copper?oldid=623439393 Contributors: Bryan Derksen, Fred Bauder, Sbisolo,
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