Keweenaw Copper Ore Beads

Hi all, when I was in Tucson and Quartzite last month at the big gem & mineral shows I picked up a nice variety of Michigan Keweenaw copper ores! I love the diversity of the ways that the ore forms. The patterns and matrix colors are so unique, and the copper has such a powerful, energetic, and elemental feel to it. I only got a few pieces, most about the size of a lemon, but each one has very different patterns and matrix. Each stone will only yield a few bead sized pieces, and drilling through the solid copper bits is hard. This copper is up to 5% silver and that little extra silver makes this copper more conductive than your average copper. It;'s Keweenaw copper that was used to make the US TELEGRAPH system in the 19th century, and then the TELEPHONE and ELECTRIC MOTOR industry in this country! While Keweenaw had the purest copper deposits in the world, they weren't the biggest and most of the mines were closed by the late 1960's. This copper tells a story...

These two pieces show copper that seems to have crystallized in place. While there are some blobs, there is also a latticelike pattern in the copper. I believe that the green matrix may be epidote. Only got these two beads out of this piece of rough...

Then there's another piece that has lots of spots in the dark matrix, with globs of copper. It's hard to capture the reflections off the copper in the photo, but they are spread throughout the stone...

and this piece has a nice little vein clearly running through it....

Thanks for letting me share. Back to the wheels, I'm finishing up some Mexican Fire Agate beads....