I have a little chunk of copper ore from Michigan’s upper peninsula. Just spent the last hour gazing at it, discovering the cracks and crystals, etc. I even found the tiniest bit of blue that I never noticed before. Thanks so much for sharing all your expertise, allowing me to marvel at what the earth creates for us!
That's native copper up there.. there was actually an American Indian "copper culture" that used that stuff to make tools etc, weapons... Like the Inuit who used meteorites to make knives, and spears etc.. via cold hammering..
I get a fair amount of "pure" (i assume) CU from my acid solution that I process electronic components with. The color of the solution is gorgeous, a deep azurite blue. I suspend iron plates in the solution after I neutralize the acid, and the copper cements out of solution on to the iron through the reactivity series. After several days, the solution has lost its blue coloration, and the bottom of the container has beautiful copper powder that I filter off and dry. Im after the gold from the components, but i save all of the copper powder for a time when it may be economical to sell it. "Waste not, want not" !! Thank you for the valuable information on the formation of these deposits. The cross sectional diagrams of these different types of deposits is information that is vital to sorting out which deposit you may have found, and where the best accumulation of valuables may be !
Its fairly pure. I'll bet you are using nitric acid - copper nitrate is deep azure blue. But copper can be dissolved with the much cheaper hydrochloric (muratic) acid - if you know what you are doing. I am going to do a series of videos on processing electronic components in the coming months.
@ChrisRalph I actually use 5% acetic acid and 12% peroxide to free the gold plating from the copper by dissolving the cooper. It takes a bit longer than using the more potent acids, HCI or nitric, but time isn't an issue and the vinegar and peroxide are safer to work with and cheaper in bulk. I look forward to your video on the topic ! As I do all of your videos !
Hi Chris, thank you for another educational video. I do have a question. Is secondary mineralization more pronounced in the vadose zone, or in the water table level itself? Also, what is the big show, convention center, or the wholesale event?
Secondary mineralization occurs both above and below the water table. Above it is the carbonates, silicates, etc. Below the water table it is secondary sulfides. The big show is the convention center show stating Feb. 8th.
Great info! In the Copper Basin Mining District in Tennessee, mining has been shut down for years because of environmental issues. The EPA has been cleaning things up, but I don't know if those issues can be overcome at some point to re-start mining.
Hey Chris - Love the video because you are hitting on my 2 favorite lapidary stones - Azurite and Malachite. I have a question and pardon me if I asked this too early and you discuss later. Is there a way to extract the malachite and azurite outside of the copper deposit itself? I'm curious if its going to become a competition of copper extraction vs the lapidary folks like myself where it seems currently we can coexist but will it become an either / or scenario in the future?
I really don't know what you mean by "Is there a way to extract the malachite and azurite outside of the copper deposit itself?" There are lots of small, uneconomic copper deposits that can yield malachite and azurite.
@@ChrisRalph if the price goes up and there is a shortage wouldn't the smaller mines that the azurite and malachite be targeted for copper extraction? i know the leading mine for high grade malachite has exhausted itself (and is in Russia so that is a different discussion about geopolitics) which has cause the value of malachite to rise enough that fake malachite is a serious concern since people are passing it as real these days. My question is wouldn't the malachite mines be repurposed to copper extraction mines or I misunderstand the purity of the oxidized coppers vs the sulfide coppers?
Copper mines need to be good sized to be worth working commercially. Small mines will not become commercial in my lifetime. The problem is in finding good quality malachite in any mine. Many have coatings and traces, etc. but good thick slabs are rare.
There are thousands of copper mines in the US. I didn't mention any in the eastern part of the US, didn't note any in Alaska either. It would be a 5 hour video to mention everywhere and talk about them. Yes there is native copper in Michigan - some good native copper in Arizona and Alaska too.
hi there, love your channel, thank you so much. could you tell me the specific name of the malachite pic you use for the video please. have a smaller piece exactly like it.
I love copper oxides, especially mixed hematite. Gets my attention real fast ! Always a possibility of gold nearby. 👍 Almost all the copper on my claims have been leached away. However, when a chunk of quartz with a very faint hew Malachite appears, the gold is quite abundant. Thanks for this video. I learned a few new things. 👍👍👍
Hey Chris, thanks for all the knowledge! Before i flood your email with pictures of rocks(don't worry just a joke!) i thought i'd ask a quick question here. When it comes to leached deposits like the one you mentioned at 26:47: roughly how big and what sort of percentages are the high grade zones? Also: do you think a similar small-scale venture would still be feasible/profitable today? Ben New England Orogen, QLD, Australia
@@ChrisRalph Ah ok, thanks for the quick reply! Not really asking in terms of giant existing copper mines because like you said, the main reason they're so big is because they've already exhausted the main ore and are scraping the sides of the barrel so to speak. I mean surely it's still possible to enter the industry and profit from such deposits on the small-scale and then sell the claim to the big guys who already have the equipment for processing low grade ore? Sorry for wasting your time, like everyone else i found a rock that sparked a question.(grey brecciated vein in serecite? clay, with green botryoidal crystals forming a skin-layer on the vein material, some pockets of crystal have a dark brown precipitate layer on top and inside of some of the formations.) Parts of the grey vein material are reminiscent of old lead from a car battery so keeping handling to a minimum just in case.
Awesome video! Great to Cu.... lol...get it.... oh never mind. While rockhounding I have come across lots of copper ores but never sure how big the deposit. I should do an assay and then.....Research time!
I@@ChrisRalphI found one in TN I had the stone it was in the nugget i call it but it was lost yrs ago, but it was beautiful it looked like copper metal, and gold and bkuish green ,and black all mixed together with a outer stone casing on the outside, like a nugget, wish j had known more about this i was in my 20s, but the face i found it on was alsmot fkush with the ground about a foot above and it broke through the surface and had veins all through it and nuggets of this everywhere around it, then about 80 ft was another ground rock breaking through same thing, these open face ground rocks were about 30 ft around and i believe they are a huge undrgound rock ledge/face that is covered by soil and these 2 doits were exposed. I know right where this place is still
Good day sir pls how do one preserve an oxidised copper ore and prevent it from oxidation from a high grade to a low grade? Pls I need to know what's the best way to preserve oxidation of copper ore
I found copper ore while hunting once it was like a stone mixed with green and shiny copper / and another metal nuggets the size of golf ball ,on the rocks with the vein. Setting right on top of big boulder just out of the ground and you could see veins of it all through the face stones coming out of the ground they were huge boulder platforms breaking the surface of the ground ,this was in TN
@@ChrisRalph I thought it was a gold nugget at first, possibly could've been , oddly enough I worked with Copper most my life, it did have a very near copperish metal throughout it with the green blue hue and black through the stone casing around it as well, let me ask you does copper do that?
@@ChrisRalph and if you'd like I can pinpoint you Exactly where it's at, i haven't been there in over 20 yrs ,but i know its still there, id tell you the location in private
@@ChrisRalph I stumbled upon this spot chasing a 8 pointer during muzzleloader season went to tie my boot raised up and he was in a trail looking at me but ran off before I took a shot, so I trailed him ,and about 200 yards where he ran through I came upon these 2 rock faces breaking up through the ground and noticed the nuggets and veins all through it, lotta black dark veins and bright colors and little bits of hardened bits of metal copper through it,
Here in South Carolina I have never seen a gossan and also in my field trips to North Carolina but I have found a few pieces here and there of gossan float, maybe it’s do to weathering and leaching in this environment ( that is my best guess)🤷♂️
I understand but this rock it has got 4 different colors of crystals parallel to each other along it and I dont know whether it is from earth or a meteorite. Eny way thank U for your time.
@@ChrisRalph here’s a prospector/believers nugget for you. Born again the spirit speaks Gold. So I began a search within. A journey of sanctification and redemption REFINING the inner man. Which brings me to Israel. Reborn May 1948. Does that number look familiar to you Chris because it should. It is also the melting point of gold hallelujah have a great day my friend
I've not searched for copper in southern California. So I have no favorites. There are copper mines in the so. Cal. desert, so do some searching on Google and I'm sure you will find some possibilities.
Thats fine but mineral gatekeepers won't purchase from the PUBLIC...It stops people from trying to contribute...like 1940's where's your paperwork...frustrating...
@ChrisRalph I'm from sudbury ontario who could I talk with or go see. Copper-Nickel sulfides. Be happy to donate sample to your collection. Hopefully makes its way to a video one day.
I have a little chunk of copper ore from Michigan’s upper peninsula. Just spent the last hour gazing at it, discovering the cracks and crystals, etc. I even found the tiniest bit of blue that I never noticed before. Thanks so much for sharing all your expertise, allowing me to marvel at what the earth creates for us!
Sounds great! I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
Oh its a delight to watch your videos for a geology enthusiast like me .. thank you so much for making such great videos
Glad you like them!
I live in the Copper Country of Upper Peninsula of Michigan all old copper mines closed off by the 50s 60s
But I hear you can find specimens with a metal detector.
That's native copper up there.. there was actually an American Indian "copper culture" that used that stuff to make tools etc, weapons... Like the Inuit who used meteorites to make knives, and spears etc.. via cold hammering..
@@ChrisRalph when copper was high @ $4 I was actually selling 80lbs for $500
@@foxmulder7616 yup
Chris will you be down in Tucson next week?
Not next week but the week after that. I'll be in town for the big show.
Chris. Thank you for all the knowledge
Your asome
My pleasure! Glad you liked the video.
I get a fair amount of "pure" (i assume) CU from my acid solution that I process electronic components with. The color of the solution is gorgeous, a deep azurite blue. I suspend iron plates in the solution after I neutralize the acid, and the copper cements out of solution on to the iron through the reactivity series. After several days, the solution has lost its blue coloration, and the bottom of the container has beautiful copper powder that I filter off and dry.
Im after the gold from the components, but i save all of the copper powder for a time when it may be economical to sell it.
"Waste not, want not" !!
Thank you for the valuable information on the formation of these deposits. The cross sectional diagrams of these different types of deposits is information that is vital to sorting out which deposit you may have found, and where the best accumulation of valuables may be !
Its fairly pure. I'll bet you are using nitric acid - copper nitrate is deep azure blue. But copper can be dissolved with the much cheaper hydrochloric (muratic) acid - if you know what you are doing. I am going to do a series of videos on processing electronic components in the coming months.
@ChrisRalph I actually use 5% acetic acid and 12% peroxide to free the gold plating from the copper by dissolving the cooper. It takes a bit longer than using the more potent acids, HCI or nitric, but time isn't an issue and the vinegar and peroxide are safer to work with and cheaper in bulk.
I look forward to your video on the topic ! As I do all of your videos !
12% peroxide is more dangerous than HCl - it can easily cause burns. If you are actually using 2% peroxide then that is not more dangerous than HCl.
Hi Chris, thank you for another educational video. I do have a question. Is secondary mineralization more pronounced in the vadose zone, or in the water table level itself? Also, what is the big show, convention center, or the wholesale event?
Secondary mineralization occurs both above and below the water table. Above it is the carbonates, silicates, etc. Below the water table it is secondary sulfides. The big show is the convention center show stating Feb. 8th.
Great info! In the Copper Basin Mining District in Tennessee, mining has been shut down for years because of environmental issues. The EPA has been cleaning things up, but I don't know if those issues can be overcome at some point to re-start mining.
Copper basin is of the VMS type mentioned in the video.
Hey Chris - Love the video because you are hitting on my 2 favorite lapidary stones - Azurite and Malachite. I have a question and pardon me if I asked this too early and you discuss later.
Is there a way to extract the malachite and azurite outside of the copper deposit itself? I'm curious if its going to become a competition of copper extraction vs the lapidary folks like myself where it seems currently we can coexist but will it become an either / or scenario in the future?
I really don't know what you mean by "Is there a way to extract the malachite and azurite outside of the copper deposit itself?" There are lots of small, uneconomic copper deposits that can yield malachite and azurite.
@@ChrisRalph if the price goes up and there is a shortage wouldn't the smaller mines that the azurite and malachite be targeted for copper extraction? i know the leading mine for high grade malachite has exhausted itself (and is in Russia so that is a different discussion about geopolitics) which has cause the value of malachite to rise enough that fake malachite is a serious concern since people are passing it as real these days.
My question is wouldn't the malachite mines be repurposed to copper extraction mines or I misunderstand the purity of the oxidized coppers vs the sulfide coppers?
Copper mines need to be good sized to be worth working commercially. Small mines will not become commercial in my lifetime. The problem is in finding good quality malachite in any mine. Many have coatings and traces, etc. but good thick slabs are rare.
We're was your info on native copper
Michigan
There are thousands of copper mines in the US. I didn't mention any in the eastern part of the US, didn't note any in Alaska either. It would be a 5 hour video to mention everywhere and talk about them. Yes there is native copper in Michigan - some good native copper in Arizona and Alaska too.
I've been kinda mining it in my yard. Out of old motors washers anything with copper I can find.
Scrapping is a bit different than digging ores, but its a way to come up with some copper.
hi there, love your channel, thank you so much. could you tell me the specific name of the malachite pic you use for the video please. have a smaller piece exactly like it.
It's a fibrous form of malachite.
@@ChrisRalph Thank you for replying, i also found out that its called Brochantite, lovely
Brochantite is a totally different mineral with different chemistry. It is not the same as Malachite or a form of it.
@@ChrisRalph That is why i follow you, thank you. Sorry for asking but my info is limited, any good sources for more info on these minerals please.
Try the Mindat website
I love copper oxides, especially mixed hematite. Gets my attention real fast ! Always a possibility of gold nearby. 👍 Almost all the copper on my claims have been leached away. However, when a chunk of quartz with a very faint hew Malachite appears, the gold is quite abundant. Thanks for this video. I learned a few new things. 👍👍👍
Thanks 👍 glad it was helpful and I hope you are doing well. Getting any prospecting done these days?
Busy making the first two production Gold Rattlers. Might show one at the Quartzite Gold Show.
Hope things go well and you have them done in time for the show.
Hey Chris, thanks for all the knowledge!
Before i flood your email with pictures of rocks(don't worry just a joke!) i thought i'd ask a quick question here. When it comes to leached deposits like the one you mentioned at 26:47: roughly how big and what sort of percentages are the high grade zones? Also: do you think a similar small-scale venture would still be feasible/profitable today?
Ben
New England Orogen, QLD, Australia
Sizes and grades are all over the map - can be from tiny to gigantic, low grade to rich. in terms of copper mining, probably not.
@@ChrisRalph Ah ok, thanks for the quick reply! Not really asking in terms of giant existing copper mines because like you said, the main reason they're so big is because they've already exhausted the main ore and are scraping the sides of the barrel so to speak. I mean surely it's still possible to enter the industry and profit from such deposits on the small-scale and then sell the claim to the big guys who already have the equipment for processing low grade ore?
Sorry for wasting your time, like everyone else i found a rock that sparked a question.(grey brecciated vein in serecite? clay, with green botryoidal crystals forming a skin-layer on the vein material, some pockets of crystal have a dark brown precipitate layer on top and inside of some of the formations.)
Parts of the grey vein material are reminiscent of old lead from a car battery so keeping handling to a minimum just in case.
Awesome video! Great to Cu.... lol...get it.... oh never mind. While rockhounding I have come across lots of copper ores but never sure how big the deposit. I should do an assay and then.....Research time!
definitely worth looking into.
I'm ready lets go !!!!!
Lets wait until the rain and snow stops.
but I'm ready now LOL !!!!!!!!! well I thought I was ready till i walked outside LOL@@ChrisRalph
I@@ChrisRalphI found one in TN I had the stone it was in the nugget i call it but it was lost yrs ago, but it was beautiful it looked like copper metal, and gold and bkuish green ,and black all mixed together with a outer stone casing on the outside, like a nugget, wish j had known more about this i was in my 20s, but the face i found it on was alsmot fkush with the ground about a foot above and it broke through the surface and had veins all through it and nuggets of this everywhere around it, then about 80 ft was another ground rock breaking through same thing, these open face ground rocks were about 30 ft around and i believe they are a huge undrgound rock ledge/face that is covered by soil and these 2 doits were exposed. I know right where this place is still
Thank you professor Chris Ralph, your Brain is more valuable than all those minerals combined! 😁😁
Glad you like the videos!
Good day sir pls how do one preserve an oxidised copper ore and prevent it from oxidation from a high grade to a low grade? Pls I need to know what's the best way to preserve oxidation of copper ore
I am not sure you understand. Oxidized copper ore is already oxidized. We may have a language problem or other understanding issue.
I found copper ore while hunting once it was like a stone mixed with green and shiny copper / and another metal nuggets the size of golf ball ,on the rocks with the vein. Setting right on top of big boulder just out of the ground and you could see veins of it all through the face stones coming out of the ground they were huge boulder platforms breaking the surface of the ground ,this was in TN
Interesting story.
@@ChrisRalph I thought it was a gold nugget at first, possibly could've been , oddly enough I worked with Copper most my life, it did have a very near copperish metal throughout it with the green blue hue and black through the stone casing around it as well, let me ask you does copper do that?
@@ChrisRalph and if you'd like I can pinpoint you Exactly where it's at, i haven't been there in over 20 yrs ,but i know its still there, id tell you the location in private
@@ChrisRalph I stumbled upon this spot chasing a 8 pointer during muzzleloader season went to tie my boot raised up and he was in a trail looking at me but ran off before I took a shot, so I trailed him ,and about 200 yards where he ran through I came upon these 2 rock faces breaking up through the ground and noticed the nuggets and veins all through it, lotta black dark veins and bright colors and little bits of hardened bits of metal copper through it,
Here in South Carolina I have never seen a gossan and also in my field trips to North Carolina but I have found a few pieces here and there of gossan float, maybe it’s do to weathering and leaching in this environment ( that is my best guess)🤷♂️
Maybe its just due to being uncommon in the locations where you have searched.
Oh ya bornite thats what i found. Thanks Chris
Its pretty stuff.
"Let's replace the copper with Zinc."
----Uncle Sam 🤣
And with zinc they will only last half as long.
Sô Nice from you. 🌠
Thanks for watching
I understand but this rock it has got 4 different colors of crystals parallel to each other along it and I dont know whether it is from earth or a meteorite.
Eny way thank U for your time.
no problem.
“Copper” the new gold
In some ways, yes.
@@ChrisRalph here’s a prospector/believers nugget for you. Born again the spirit speaks Gold. So I began a search within. A journey of sanctification and redemption REFINING the inner man. Which brings me to Israel. Reborn May 1948. Does that number look familiar to you Chris because it should. It is also the melting point of gold hallelujah have a great day my friend
¹1¹st.
Best spot for copper ore in Southern California desert?
I've not searched for copper in southern California. So I have no favorites. There are copper mines in the so. Cal. desert, so do some searching on Google and I'm sure you will find some possibilities.
We're in cali
Better yet find silver, silver is going to Skyrocket. Silver is the number one conductor of electricity. Take all the time you need.. 😂
Check out my video on finding silver - ua-cam.com/video/E3l4z3PBJe4/v-deo.html
Thats fine but mineral gatekeepers won't purchase from the PUBLIC...It stops people from trying to contribute...like 1940's where's your paperwork...frustrating...
Who are the "mineral gatekeepers"? I know mineral dealers who will buy - so long as the price is right.
@ChrisRalph I'm from sudbury ontario who could I talk with or go see. Copper-Nickel sulfides. Be happy to donate sample to your collection. Hopefully makes its way to a video one day.