Copper pseudomorphs after Cuprite with Silver
sold- Locality
- Rubtsovsky Mine, Altai Krai, Siberia, Russia
- Minerals
- Copper, Cuprite, Silver
- Dimensions
- 2.2 x 1.5 x 1.5 cm
- Size class
- Thumbnail
- SID
- COPPER3
The cuprites from the Rubtsovsky Mine in Russia are widely considered the best ever found. The Rubtsovsky Mine is an operating copper mine, and the oxidation zone has produced Cuprites, Azurites, native copper, silver, and iodine minerals like Miersite, and Marshite. I have been following the production for the last two years, to better understand how these are unique and what pieces stand out from "the crowd." About 95+% of the production have damage of some kind to a corner or edge. This is largely due to the miners who when extracting crystals from the kaolin clay zone (which protects the Cuprites), they drop them into their pockets, and they get dinged.
This piece consists of four interlocked complete pseudomorphs of native Copper after Cuprite. There are two primary crystals, of about the same size that are connected. The slightly larger crystal has two smaller one embedded within it. On the backside of this crystal is a patch of native silver. This is a unique specimen, as copper pseudomorphs occur less than about 1% of the time, and silver on Cuprites only occurs at the Rubtsovsky Mine. No damage.