The Other Copper Minerals

12 Lesser-known Collectible Species

- BOB JONES

Bright blue-green balls of aurichalcite up to one cm across clustered in a brain-like formation. Minor calcite lines the vugs. From the Uludağ Mine, Turkey. (6.5 x 4.6 x 3.9 cm)

Every collector enjoys a cluster of common copper species, particularly bright-blue azurite and luscious green malachite. Yet, dealers and most collections have a limited number of the lesser-known and less popular copper species as a part of a copper suite. Some of them are colorful, but many are gray to black. Still, they can be fascinating and important as collector species including aurichalcite, bornite, covellite, enargite, chalcocite and boleite.

Chalcocite, covellite, bornite and enargite are all ores of copper and are found in massive form, but each has also been found in nicely crystallized specimens that are eminently collectible. They lack bright color, though some can show a nice metallic-blue patina. These copper sulfides are mined primarily for their copper content, which tends to limit their survival as nicely crystallized specimens.

There is also a more colorful group of copper species that includes plancheite, olivenite, caledonite, liroconite, chalcophyllite, and chalcoalumite.

Here’s what every collector should know about these more obscure copper species...

Boleite from the Amelia Mine, Baja California Sur, Mexico. (4.7 x 3.8 x 1.4 cm)

BOLEITE