NATIVE MICHIGAN COPPER

1. NATIVE MICHIGAN COPPER by AL STIMAC

3. Native Copper • One of the Few Metallic Elements to Occur in Uncombined Form as a Natural Mineral • Occurs rarely as Isometric Cubic and Octahedral Crystals • More Typically as Irregular Masses and Fracture Fillings

4. PERSPECTIVE • Kennecott-Utah Copper Contains 0.5 to 0.8% Copper • One 350 Ton Truck with O.6% Copper yields 3 Tons of Copper • Michigan Copper is 2 to 100% Copper Depending on the Sample

5. KEWEENAW PENINSULA • Northernmost point in Michigan • Premier Mining Location from 1840 to 1968 • Calumet was the second largest city west of Appalachians after Chicago at turn of the century • At one time there was 1 stockbroker for every 26 residents of Calumet and area

6. Place Name Derivations • Keweenaw – Indian for The Crossing Place • Calumet – French for Pipe meaning Indian Peace Pipe • Laurium – Mining City in Ancient Greece where Copper and Silver were Mined and Home of George Gipp and Al Stimac

11. THE PROLIFIC KEWEENAW • 94.5% Cu Mined until 1929 came from a 3 mile by 26 mile strip between Mohawk and Painesdale • Heyday was 1900-1918 • Keweenaw District was Second Largest Producer of Copper in the World - 8.2 Billion Pounds Copper Mined - $325 Million in Dividends from 1845-today

13. Early Exploration Was Fostered By Ontonogan Boulder • Circa 1670 explorers were viewing the boulder • Ben Franklin Drew the Map of Settlement with Britain to Include Isle Royale • After Michigan became a State in 1840 Douglass Houghton Led the Survey to The Keweenaw • Legacy Short Lived - Drowned in 1845

15. ONTONOGAN BOULDER 3708 POUNDS

16. COPPER FORMATION IS CHEMICAL AND NOT VOLCANIC • Hydrothermal Venting with Copper in Solution which Precipitated on Cooling Forming: • Float • Mass • Amygdaloid • Within other salts like calcite • Fused with other metals like silver (half breed)

20. HALFBREED

21. DATOLITE WAS CONSIDERED A WASTE PRODUCT • Porcelain-like Material • Ranged in Size from Tiny to 140 lbs • Calcium Boron Hydroxide Neosilicate Mineral • Coloration Due to Inclusion of Copper or associated minerals from hydrothermal precipitation • Caused Drills/Tools to Muck Up/Wear Out

25. MENARD MASS 18 TONS

26. QUICY MASS 16 TONS QUINCY MASS 16 TONS

28. LARGE MASSES WERE CUT UNDERGROUND

29. Largest Mass Found in Minesota Mine in 1857 • Estimated at 380 to 478 Metric Tons • 52 ft x 16 ft x 9 ft • 20 Men Took 15 Months to Blast, Hammer and Chisel it for Smelting • Chisel Chips Alone Weighed 24 Metric Tons and Paid for Half the Labor

30. LATEST BOULDER FIND • Offshore 1991 • Seventeen Tons • Removed in 2001 • Destination Michigan Tech Mineral Museum at Quincy Steam Hoist

32. Boulders

34. 19TH Century Mining • Early Mines were located near Lake Superior for Transportation Purposes • Significant Amounts of Lumber Were Required for Shoring Up Drifts • Trains Came Later • Mills and Smelters Followed • Mechanical Drilling Followed 3 Man Hand Chiseling

37. Many Ethnic Groups Contributed to the Copper Industry • Cornish Croatians Finns French • Irish Swedes Italians Norse • Germans Poles Slovenes Scots • There were up to Four or Five Churches of the Same Faith for the Different Ethnic Groups

41. Cliff Mine • Operated from 1846 to 1856 • $108K Investment Yielded $3.8M

49. HORSEPOWER LITERALLY