Congratulations to this guy for winning the inaugural Ore Cup and becoming the International Mineralogical Association's Ore mineral of the year!
https://www.mineralcup.org/
Go copper metal, you might not be a sulfide mineral but you still rock.
Image: Worlds largest chunk of mined vein copper. 19 tonnes of native copper!
#OreCup25 #orecup #MineralCup
#keweenaw #coppercountry #nativecopper #MichiganRocks #michigan
Last chance to vote in this years Ore Mineral cup.
https://www.mineralcup.org/vote-results/results-r3m1
Go Copper!
#OreCup25 #orecup #MineralCup
While the big times of Native copper mining in Northern Michigan is long behind us, the residue of those old mines are modern gold (well copper really) mines. Some of these wasre rock piles still have percent levels of native copper in them. A much more ecologically friendly solution to sourcing the copper need, especially since copper is usually in the form of sulfide minerals which leads to acid mine runoff and leaching of contaminants unless treated very carefully.
Image: copper metal from a waste rock pile at the Quincey Mine.
Note: Quincey Mine is private property and collecting and rockhounding is strictly prohibited, unless you have a collecting permission for research.
Native copper in a sedimentary conglomerate. It is proposed that detrital hematite reacts with copper sulfate solutions to reduce the copper and the fluids carry away the iron and sulfur.
From Calumet and Hekla Mine, Michigan. University of Waterloo Earth Sciences Museum Collection.
#OreCup25 #MinCup25 #Copper #Michigan #UpperPeninsula #UWaterloo
@MineralCup
Copper ahead by a wide margin atm.
Keep it up copper, you can do it.
Nice article on the type locality of #carrollite : Carroll County, Maryland and the Patapsco Mine.
https://jamesrada.com/carrollite-the-mineral-once-found-only-in-carroll-county/
Unless you hate Bob Ross and pretty little clouds you will vote for ilmenite today.
#titaniumwhite
Round 1 Match 3 of #OreCup25 #OreCup
is Ilmenite vs Jadarite
Ilmenite as a titanium-iron oxide mineral wins the arts vote for titanium dioxide white paint in modern art (like this Franz Klein).
Though Jadarite, only discovered in 2004 gets some physics points as a source of lithium (& use in batteries) & some arts points for boron (used in ceramic & glasses) #scicomm #arthist
Vote here: https://www.mineralcup.org/vote-results/vote-r1m3
Round 1 match 2 of #OreCup25 is molybdenite versus tetrahedrite.
I have to give Molybdenite the physics vote (as source of Re used for geochronology, as a source of Mo used as a catalyst, battery electrodes, alloys of iron & semiconductors),
But Tetrahedrite gets physics points for being thermoelectric (it can be used turn heat into electricity) & some arts points as a historically important ore of copper.
#OreCup vote here: https://www.mineralcup.org/vote-results
Sulfide_Sleuth
Bill Minarik
Ele Willoughby, PhD