Barite with Copper

Unknown Owner

Collectible specimens of barite are quite unusual and rare in Michigan's upper Peninsula. This example, from the Don and Gloria Olson collection, shows good bladed white crystals on matrix with crystallized native copper. In good condition.The Phoenix Mine in Keweenaw County, Michigan, is an early copper mining locality developed in the 1840s on the Keweenaw Peninsula. The mine worked native copper deposits found in fissure veins and amygdaloidal basalt of the Portage Lake Lava Series. Operations were carried out through underground shafts and drifts that followed the copper bearing zones. Although not as large as some nearby mines, Phoenix was part of the early development of the Michigan copper industry and contributed to the regions mining history.