The Crystal Circle
Specimen: Standard Gallery: Standard
Olmiite on Calcite
Olmiite on Calcite
N Chwanning II Mine, Kuruman, Republic of South Africa
Opal (polished)
Opal (polished)
Jalisco, Mexico
Opal: Rough and Cut
Opal: Rough and Cut
Shoa Province, Ethiopia
Datolite with Quartz
Datolite with Quartz
Dalnegorsk, Primorskij Kraj, Russia
Corundum Var. Sapphire
Corundum Var. Sapphire
Balangoda, near Ratnapura, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka
Dioptase
Dioptase
Altyn-Tyube, Karagandy Oblast, Kazakhstan
Copper pseudomorph after Cuprite

Copper pseudomorph after Cuprite

sold
Locality
Rubtsovsky Mine, Altai Krai, Siberia, Russia
Minerals
Copper, Cuprite
Dimensions
2.9 x 1.9 x 1.8
Size class
Thumbnail
SID
CUPRITE5

The cuprites from the Rubtsovskiy Mine in Russia are widely considered the best ever found. The Rubtsovskly Mine is an operating copper mine, and the oxidation zone has produced Cuprites, Azurites, native copper, silver, and iodine minerals like Miersite. 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. 

These two cuprite crystals have mostly been replaced by copper, but not entirely. It weighs 15.8 grams and is in excellent condition, no damage. 

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