Native copper from Ray mine, Arizona (specimen 5.25 x 4 x 1 cm)
General
Category
Native metal
Formula (repeating unit)
Cu
Strunz classification
01.AA.05
Dana classification
1.1.1.3
Crystal system
Cubic
Crystal class
Hexoctahedral (m3m) H-M symbol: (4/m 3 2/m)
Space group
Fm3m
Unit cell
a = 3.615 Å; Z = 4
Identification
Color
Pale rose on fresh surface, quickly darkens to copper-red; in reflected light, pale rose
Crystal habit
As cubes, dodecahedra, and as tetrahexahedra; rarely as octahedra and complex combinations. Commonly flattened on {111}, elongated along [001]. Also as irregular distortions, in twisted, wirelike shapes; filiform, arborescent, massive
Twinning
On {111} to produce simple contact and penetration twins and cyclic groups
Cleavage
None
Fracture
Hackly - jagged
Tenacity
Highly malleable and ductile
Mohs scale hardness
2+1⁄2–3
Luster
Metallic
Streak
Copper-red
Diaphaneity
Opaque
Specific gravity
8.95
Solubility
Soluble in nitric acid
Other characteristics
Tarnishes to black or green in air.
References
[1][2][3][4]
Native copper is an uncombined form of copper that 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.
^Anthony, John W.; Bideaux, Richard A.; Bladh, Kenneth W.; Nichols, Monte C. (2005). "Copper" (PDF). Handbook of Mineralogy. Mineral Data Publishing. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
^Copper, WebMineral.com, retrieved 2009-12-04
^Copper, Mindat.org, retrieved 2009-12-04
^Klein, Cornelis and Cornelius S. Hurlbut, Manual of Mineralogy, Wiley, 20th ed., 1985, pp 259-260 ISBN 0-471-80580-7
Nativecopper is an uncombined form of copper that occurs as a natural mineral. Copper is one of the few metallic elements to occur in native form, although...
temperature measurement. Copper is one of the few metals that can occur in nature in a directly usable metallic form (native metals). This led to very...
amalgam, and gold-mercury amalgam. Only gold, silver, copper and the platinum group occur native in large amounts.[citation needed] Over geological time...
extraction in the world. The earliest evidence of the cold-hammering of nativecopper comes from the excavation at Çayönü Tepesi in eastern Anatolia, which...
unusual among copper-mining districts, because copper is predominantly found in the form of pure copper metal (nativecopper) rather than the copper oxides or...
producer of copper. Copper Country is highly unusual among mining districts in that the copper mined was predominantly in its elemental ("native") form, rather...
(Cu2O). It is rarely found in association with nativecopper. Chalcopyrite is a conductor of electricity. Copper can be extracted from chalcopyrite ore using...
The following lists of copper mines in the United States: Leading copper-producing mines in the U.S., 2018–2021, in order of output: The mines on this...
[page needed] The Old Copper Complex of the Western Great Lakes is the best known, and can be dated as far back as 9,500 years ago. Great Lakes natives of the Archaic...
Neolithic and the Bronze Age, in which a gradual introduction of the metal (nativecopper) took place, while stone was still the main resource utilized. Recent...
following elements occur as native element minerals or alloys: Aluminium Antimony Arsenic Bismuth Carbon Cadmium Chromium Cobalt Copper Gold Indium Iron Iridium...
substitution is replacement of aragonite twin crystals by nativecopper, as occurs at the Corocoro United Copper Mines of Coro Coro, Bolivia. A variety of infiltration...
Apaches, Spaniards, Mexicans, and Americans have all obtained nativecopper and copper ore from this site. The present-day open-pit mining operation was...
The Copper Range Company was a major copper-mining company in the Copper Country of Michigan, United States. It began as the Copper Range Company in the...
Mississippian copper plates, or plaques, are plain and repousséd plates of beaten copper crafted by peoples of the various regional expressions of the...
which forms in the oxidized zone of copper sulfide deposits. It frequently occurs in association with nativecopper, azurite, chrysocolla, malachite, tenorite...
large-scale economically recoverable 97 percent pure nativecopper is found. Much of the nativecopper found in the Keweenaw comes in either the form of...
can also be found in native form, allowing a limited amount of metalworking in early cultures. Early metallurgy using nativecopper is documented at sites...
apparent to early humans, and nativecopper was probably used from near the beginning of Neolithic times (about 10 ka). Nativecopper does not naturally occur...
done with nativecopper and copper minerals. One such site was Çayönü Tepesi in eastern Turkey, which also produced evidence of nativecopper annealing...
as supergene copper minerals, formed in the oxidized zone of copper ore deposits. Here they are associated with cuprite, nativecopper, and various iron...
ilmenite, hematite, pyrite and native iron. In the Getang, Guizhou Province, China, occurrence it occurs with copper, sulfur and jarosite. "Aluminium"...
Eupomatia laurina, commonly named bolwarra, native guava or copper laurel, is a species of plant in the primitive flowering-plant family Eupomatiaceae...
Minerals of interest are generally oxides, sulfides, silicates, or native metals such as copper or gold. Ore bodies are formed by a variety of geological processes...
Boulder (/ˌɒntəˈnɑːɡən ˈboʊldəɹ/) is a 3,708 pounds (1,682 kg) boulder of nativecopper originally found in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States,...
spraying. Their cocoons are used by the native population for ceremonial purposes. Open-pit mining for copper, gold and other metals not only produces...
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