Copper Elements,
Alloys and Symbols

Copper is a common and widely distributed element. It is found in a number of important minerals which usually occur in veins. Chalcopyrite is the most important ore, and in most cases is the only primary copper minerals in a deposited. The other important sulfides, bornite and chalcocite, are usually, although not always, the results of secondary enrichment. Solutions that have leached out the copper content of the upper portion of a copper content of the copper vein will react with the unoxidized chalcopyrite farther down to enrich it respect to the amount of copper it contains and convert it into bornite and chalcocite. In this way copper veins often show in the upper part, just below the oxidized zone, a body of enriched sulfides. The veins at Butte, Montana, are notable examples of this. This enriched sulfide zone is to be observed in

General when the copper veins traverse igneous rocks. When they lie in limestones the upper portion of the vein is more liable to be characterized by the precense of the oxidized copper ores, native copper, cuprite, malachite, azurite, chysocolla, etc. Pyride often contains small amounts of copper and when it occurs in large bodies becomes an important ore of the metal.

Copper is produced in fifteen to twenty of the states and territories of the United States. A brief description of the chief district in the more productive states follows. Alaska: three districts of importance have been developed; the Ketchikan district where the ores are contact bodies, and are composed chiefly of pyrrhotite, magnetite, pyrite and; Prince William Sound district including several mines on Latouche Island; Copper River district where immense bodies of chalcocite and azurite occur in limestone. Arizona: A very productive district is that of Bisbee where the ore bodies replace limestone and are closely associated with intrusive rocks. The original ores were chiefly cupriferrous pyrite, but secondary enrichment has extended to great depths. Near the surface large bodies of oxidized ores were fund . The Jerome district has large bodies of ore lying in an ingenious rock which through shearing has been rendered almost shistose in structure. The ores at present are largely sulfides. Morenci-Metcalf district has its ores occurring as contact deposits lying in limestone and shales into which dikes of pophyry have been intruded, and as disseminated bodies lying in the porphyry itself. The workable ores are those which have undergone secondary enrichment, and consist of both carbonates and sulfides. Globe Miami district is very productive. It has deposits that occurs as lenticular replacement bodies in limestone and a deposits in fissures in diabase. Disseminated bodies also occur. California: Important district lie in Shasta County, where the ores occurs as replacement bodies along shear in a granite porphyry. The Plumas district is a large producer. Colorado: Most of the copper from this state comes as a byproduct in the smelting of gold and silver ores and id derived chiefly from Lake, San Juan, Gipin, Chaffe and clear Cleek counties. Idaho: Part of the output comes from the Coeur d´Alene district. The deposit consist of disseminated bornite, chalcocite and chalcopyrite in beds of quartzite. Alder Creek district in Custer County is important. Michigan: This state was for a long period the most important producer in the country, and still ranks with the leading three. The ores are unique in that they consist wholly of native copper. They occur on Keweenaw Peninsula, the rocks of which consist of a series of alternating sandstone conglomerate beds and basic lava flows, all inclined at a steep angle to the northwest. The copper and is found disseminated though and acting as a cement in the conglomerates, and is less important deposits in the amygdaloidal layers of the lava. Montana: The one important district, and form a number of years the most important copper district in the world, is at Butt. The ores occur as replacement veins in a granitic rock. The ores have been very large sulfide bodies. The important ore minerals are chalcopyrite, chalcocite and enargite. Nevada: The important is at Ely, where the sulphide ores occurs as dissemination in highly altered porphyry. New Mexico: the Santa Rita-Hanover and the Burro Mountain districts are the chief producers. Tennessee: The chief district is that of Ducktown.

• Native Copper, Cu.
• Bornite, Cu₅FeS₄.
• Chalcocite, Cu₂S.
• Chalcopyrite, CuFeS₂.
• Stromeyerite, CuAgs.
• Tetrahedrite, Cu₈As2S2.
• Covellite, CuS.
• Tennantite, Cu₈As₂S7
• Enargite, Cu₃AsS₄.
• Chrysocolla, CuSiO₃.2H₂O.
• Atacamite, Cu2Cl(OH)₃.
• Olivenite, Cu(CuOH)AsO₄.
• Cuprite, Cu₂O.
• Brochantite, Cu₄(OH)₆SO₄
• Malachite, Cu₂O
• Chalcanthite, CuSO₄. 5H₂O
• Azurite. Cu(OH)2.₂CuCO₃.

The ores occurs as steeply dipping lenses in a shist and contain chiefly pyrrhotite, pyrite and chalcopyrite. Utah: The Bingham dictrict, which is a very large producer, has ores bodies occurring as contact deposit, replacemnents in limestone and filling fissures, the last being the most import.

Important copper deposits outside of the United States are at Rio Tinto in Spain; in Australasia, at mount Lyell in Tasmania, at Wallarco and Moonta, South Australia, at Mount Morgan in Queensland and at different localities in New South Wales; n Mexico at Cananea and at various districts in Sonora, etc.; in Canada at the Boundary distric in Ontario Belgian Congo, Chile, Japan and Germany also produce notable amounts of copper.

Copper is extensively used in the of wire, sheet and nails. A large amount,chiefly as wire, is used as an electrical conductor. Is has important uses in various alloys, as brass(copper and tin, at times zinc also), German silver (copper, zinc and nickel), etc. Copper sulfate, or blue vitriol, is used in calico printing and in galvanic cells.