This is the most important primary ore of copper, and is widely distributed, being found either in lavas, or in veins, or in fissures connected with igneous rocks. Apparently the deposits were made, either at the time of eruptive disturbances or shortly afterward, from vapors or hot solutions carrying the copper sulphides (and other sulphides) from the molten igneous rocks. Chalcopyrite is usually associated with pyrite, galena, sphalerite and chalcocite, as well as quartz, fluorite and calcite. It is found in all the New England States, in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, and all the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast States.
[Bornite]
Cu₃FeS₃
purple copper ore
Occurs in granular or compact masses; hardness 3; specific gravity, 5; color bronze-brown with a bluish tarnish; streak gray-black; luster metallic; opaque on thin edges.
Bornite is also known as erubescite, blushing ore, variegated copper, peacock copper, etc., all of which names refer to the highly iridescent tarnish which fresh faces soon take on when exposed to the air. Though usually in masses, it is sometimes found in rough cubes of the isometric system. In this country it is not abundant enough to be used as an ore, but is likely to be found with other ores like chalcopyrite or chalcocite. In the east it has been found at Bristol, Conn., and near Wilkesbarre, Penn., while in the west it may be expected to occur wherever other sulphide minerals of copper are found.
[Chalcocite]
Cu₂S
[Pl. 9]
copper glance
Occurs in fine grained compact masses; hardness 2.5; specific gravity 5.7; color dark leaden gray; streak black; luster metallic; opaque on thin edges.
Chalcocite is one of the important ores of copper, especially in Arizona and the Butte District of Montana. It resembles argentite in color and general appearance, but is readily distinguished by being brittle and having a tendency to tarnish to bluish or greenish colors on fresh surfaces. Occasionally it occurs in crystals which are in the orthorhombic system; but the edges of the prism are so beveled that there are six sides and the prism resembles a hexagonal prism (see [page 16]).
In the Butte, Mont., district, the most important copper region in the United States, fully 50% of the ore is chalcocite, which is a derivative of the originally deposited chalcopyrite, the latter having lost its iron. In the veins of this district chalcopyrite, bournite, tetrahedrite, and several other copper minerals not described in this book, occur all together, and with them also gold, silver and arsenic minerals. The gold amounts to about 2¼ cents per pound of copper, and the silver is in somewhat less quantity. These veins were first opened to get the silver ores, which were the more important ones down to a depth of 200 to 400 feet. Below these depths the copper became much more important. It was the weathering which had removed a large part of the copper minerals in the upper levels of the veins, but had left a large part of the silver. Chalcocite is also important in most of the Utah and Arizona mines.
In the east it has been found at Bristol, Simsbury and Cheshire, Conn., and in the west it is found in all the Cordilleran States.