Copper

Native Copper from MIM Mines, Mount Isa, Mount Isa Mining District, Queensland, Australia, measuring 102 × 64 × 14 mm and weighing 24 grams. The specimen shows an irregular, broad piece with a textured surface and a relatively shallow profile. It is the kind of specimen that invites examination across its whole surface rather than concentrating attention on a single isolated feature.

Native Copper is copper occurring as an element, rather than combined with Sulphur, oxygen or carbonate in another mineral. That makes it a useful starting point for a collection following copper through its different mineral species. The distinction is chemically simple but visually and geologically rewarding when native metal is compared with copper oxides, carbonates and sulphides.

The Mount Isa attribution places this piece within a major Queensland mining district. Its 102 mm span gives a generous area to examine, while the 14 mm recorded depth describes the thin overall profile. The uneven outline and surface texture visible on the specimen add individuality to a specimen whose mineral identity is the native metal itself. The provenance records the Anne McDonald Collection and collection by G. Stacey in the 1970s. That named collector and decade are important parts of this piece's story. They connect the mineral with an earlier period of Australian field collecting, giving the next owner a human history to preserve alongside the Mount Isa locality and the specimen's distinctive proportions.