History · Geology
About Bisbee (Warren District)
Bisbee, Arizona — the historic Warren District — was one of the United States’ most prolific copper producers and the source of legendary azurite-malachite specimens that defined the genre for 20th-century American collectors. Mining operated from 1880 to 1975.
Geology
The deposit combines porphyry Cu mineralization with a thick supergene oxidation blanket that produced extraordinary secondary Cu carbonates, oxides, and silicates. Carbonate-replacement bodies in Paleozoic limestone host the most spectacular collector specimens.
Notable Minerals
Azurite (deep-blue blocky crystals — Bisbee specimens defined the “blue stones of America”), malachite (often pseudomorphic after azurite, “azurmalachite”), cuprite, chrysocolla (gem-silica variety), smithsonite, hemimorphite, mimetite, aurichalcite, rosasite, native copper, cerussite. Many specimens are now in museum collections worldwide.
Collector Notes
Bisbee azurite is American collecting royalty. The “Singing Stone” (60 cm cluster, ~1890) is among the great American specimens. Bisbee turquoise (Cu-rich variety) is also gem-significant.
Minerals Produced Here
- Aurichalcite (绿铜锌矿)
- Azurite (蓝铜矿)
- Calcite (方解石)
- Chrysocolla (硅孔雀石)
- Copper (Native) (自然铜)
- Cuprite (赤铜矿)
- Hemimorphite (异极矿)
- Malachite (孔雀石)
- Mimetite (砷铅矿)
- Rosasite (蓝绿铜锌矿)
- Smithsonite (菱锌矿)
- Turquoise (绿松石)
