Pyrite, Quartz

This specimen features a crown of oddly formed pyrite perched atop a milky white quartz crystal. Under the microscope one can see extremely small crystals of what appears to be sphalerite. Not a lot of specimens came out of the Copper Corp. Mine, a historic copper mine located on the eastern shore of Lake Superior.

Copper Corp. Ltd. first sank a shaft on the property in 1955, and Vauze Mines Limited brought the deposit into production in 1965 before ceasing operations in 1972. Over its lifespan, the mine produced a total of 10,956,518 kg of copper. Mineralization occurs within fault zones cutting through Keweenawan conglomerates and amygdaloidal basalts. By 2008, all mining infrastructure had been removed, and the site was repurposed as a base for logging operations.