Chris. Thank you for all the knowledge Your asome

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

My pleasure! Glad you liked the video.

Oh its a delight to watch your videos for a geology enthusiast like me .. thank you so much for making such great videos

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

Glad you like them!

I live in the Copper Country of Upper Peninsula of Michigan all old copper mines closed off by the 50s 60s

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

But I hear you can find specimens with a metal detector.

@foxmulder7616

4 ай бұрын

That's native copper up there.. there was actually an American Indian "copper culture" that used that stuff to make tools etc, weapons... Like the Inuit who used meteorites to make knives, and spears etc.. via cold hammering..

@the_rippergaming4512

4 ай бұрын

@@ChrisRalph when copper was high @ $4 I was actually selling 80lbs for $500

@the_rippergaming4512

4 ай бұрын

@@foxmulder7616 yup

I love copper oxides, especially mixed hematite. Gets my attention real fast ! Always a possibility of gold nearby. 👍 Almost all the copper on my claims have been leached away. However, when a chunk of quartz with a very faint hew Malachite appears, the gold is quite abundant. Thanks for this video. I learned a few new things. 👍👍👍

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

Thanks 👍 glad it was helpful and I hope you are doing well. Getting any prospecting done these days?

@allansgoldmining

4 ай бұрын

Busy making the first two production Gold Rattlers. Might show one at the Quartzite Gold Show.

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

Hope things go well and you have them done in time for the show.

Awesome video! Great to Cu.... lol...get it.... oh never mind. While rockhounding I have come across lots of copper ores but never sure how big the deposit. I should do an assay and then.....Research time!

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

definitely worth looking into.

Great info! In the Copper Basin Mining District in Tennessee, mining has been shut down for years because of environmental issues. The EPA has been cleaning things up, but I don't know if those issues can be overcome at some point to re-start mining.

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

Copper basin is of the VMS type mentioned in the video.

Hey Chris - Love the video because you are hitting on my 2 favorite lapidary stones - Azurite and Malachite. I have a question and pardon me if I asked this too early and you discuss later. Is there a way to extract the malachite and azurite outside of the copper deposit itself? I'm curious if its going to become a competition of copper extraction vs the lapidary folks like myself where it seems currently we can coexist but will it become an either / or scenario in the future?

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

I really don't know what you mean by "Is there a way to extract the malachite and azurite outside of the copper deposit itself?" There are lots of small, uneconomic copper deposits that can yield malachite and azurite.

@blakiniknorguild142

4 ай бұрын

@@ChrisRalph if the price goes up and there is a shortage wouldn't the smaller mines that the azurite and malachite be targeted for copper extraction? i know the leading mine for high grade malachite has exhausted itself (and is in Russia so that is a different discussion about geopolitics) which has cause the value of malachite to rise enough that fake malachite is a serious concern since people are passing it as real these days. My question is wouldn't the malachite mines be repurposed to copper extraction mines or I misunderstand the purity of the oxidized coppers vs the sulfide coppers?

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

Copper mines need to be good sized to be worth working commercially. Small mines will not become commercial in my lifetime. The problem is in finding good quality malachite in any mine. Many have coatings and traces, etc. but good thick slabs are rare.

I'm ready lets go !!!!!

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

Lets wait until the rain and snow stops.

@Smithsgold

4 ай бұрын

but I'm ready now LOL !!!!!!!!! well I thought I was ready till i walked outside LOL@@ChrisRalph

@matthewmaxcy1574

4 ай бұрын

I​@@ChrisRalphI found one in TN I had the stone it was in the nugget i call it but it was lost yrs ago, but it was beautiful it looked like copper metal, and gold and bkuish green ,and black all mixed together with a outer stone casing on the outside, like a nugget, wish j had known more about this i was in my 20s, but the face i found it on was alsmot fkush with the ground about a foot above and it broke through the surface and had veins all through it and nuggets of this everywhere around it, then about 80 ft was another ground rock breaking through same thing, these open face ground rocks were about 30 ft around and i believe they are a huge undrgound rock ledge/face that is covered by soil and these 2 doits were exposed. I know right where this place is still

Hi Chris, thank you for another educational video. I do have a question. Is secondary mineralization more pronounced in the vadose zone, or in the water table level itself? Also, what is the big show, convention center, or the wholesale event?

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

Secondary mineralization occurs both above and below the water table. Above it is the carbonates, silicates, etc. Below the water table it is secondary sulfides. The big show is the convention center show stating Feb. 8th.

I've been kinda mining it in my yard. Out of old motors washers anything with copper I can find.

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

Scrapping is a bit different than digging ores, but its a way to come up with some copper.

Chris will you be down in Tucson next week?

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

Not next week but the week after that. I'll be in town for the big show.

I get a fair amount of "pure" (i assume) CU from my acid solution that I process electronic components with. The color of the solution is gorgeous, a deep azurite blue. I suspend iron plates in the solution after I neutralize the acid, and the copper cements out of solution on to the iron through the reactivity series. After several days, the solution has lost its blue coloration, and the bottom of the container has beautiful copper powder that I filter off and dry. Im after the gold from the components, but i save all of the copper powder for a time when it may be economical to sell it. "Waste not, want not" !! Thank you for the valuable information on the formation of these deposits. The cross sectional diagrams of these different types of deposits is information that is vital to sorting out which deposit you may have found, and where the best accumulation of valuables may be !

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

Its fairly pure. I'll bet you are using nitric acid - copper nitrate is deep azure blue. But copper can be dissolved with the much cheaper hydrochloric (muratic) acid - if you know what you are doing. I am going to do a series of videos on processing electronic components in the coming months.

@John-ir2zf

4 ай бұрын

@ChrisRalph I actually use 5% acetic acid and 12% peroxide to free the gold plating from the copper by dissolving the cooper. It takes a bit longer than using the more potent acids, HCI or nitric, but time isn't an issue and the vinegar and peroxide are safer to work with and cheaper in bulk. I look forward to your video on the topic ! As I do all of your videos !

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

12% peroxide is more dangerous than HCl - it can easily cause burns. If you are actually using 2% peroxide then that is not more dangerous than HCl.

Here in South Carolina I have never seen a gossan and also in my field trips to North Carolina but I have found a few pieces here and there of gossan float, maybe it’s do to weathering and leaching in this environment ( that is my best guess)🤷‍♂️

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

Maybe its just due to being uncommon in the locations where you have searched.

"Let's replace the copper with Zinc." ----Uncle Sam 🤣

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

And with zinc they will only last half as long.

Oh ya bornite thats what i found. Thanks Chris

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

Its pretty stuff.

Sô Nice from you. 🌠

@ChrisRalph

Ай бұрын

Thanks for watching

hi there, love your channel, thank you so much. could you tell me the specific name of the malachite pic you use for the video please. have a smaller piece exactly like it.

@ChrisRalph

22 күн бұрын

It's a fibrous form of malachite.

@andre-pauldasilva5726

22 күн бұрын

@@ChrisRalph Thank you for replying, i also found out that its called Brochantite, lovely

@ChrisRalph

22 күн бұрын

Brochantite is a totally different mineral with different chemistry. It is not the same as Malachite or a form of it.

@andre-pauldasilva5726

22 күн бұрын

@@ChrisRalph That is why i follow you, thank you. Sorry for asking but my info is limited, any good sources for more info on these minerals please.

@ChrisRalph

20 күн бұрын

Try the Mindat website

I found copper ore while hunting once it was like a stone mixed with green and shiny copper / and another metal nuggets the size of golf ball ,on the rocks with the vein. Setting right on top of big boulder just out of the ground and you could see veins of it all through the face stones coming out of the ground they were huge boulder platforms breaking the surface of the ground ,this was in TN

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

Interesting story.

@matthewmaxcy1574

4 ай бұрын

@@ChrisRalph I thought it was a gold nugget at first, possibly could've been , oddly enough I worked with Copper most my life, it did have a very near copperish metal throughout it with the green blue hue and black through the stone casing around it as well, let me ask you does copper do that?

@matthewmaxcy1574

4 ай бұрын

@@ChrisRalph and if you'd like I can pinpoint you Exactly where it's at, i haven't been there in over 20 yrs ,but i know its still there, id tell you the location in private

@matthewmaxcy1574

4 ай бұрын

@@ChrisRalph I stumbled upon this spot chasing a 8 pointer during muzzleloader season went to tie my boot raised up and he was in a trail looking at me but ran off before I took a shot, so I trailed him ,and about 200 yards where he ran through I came upon these 2 rock faces breaking up through the ground and noticed the nuggets and veins all through it, lotta black dark veins and bright colors and little bits of hardened bits of metal copper through it,

Good day sir pls how do one preserve an oxidised copper ore and prevent it from oxidation from a high grade to a low grade? Pls I need to know what's the best way to preserve oxidation of copper ore

@ChrisRalph

Ай бұрын

I am not sure you understand. Oxidized copper ore is already oxidized. We may have a language problem or other understanding issue.

We're was your info on native copper Michigan

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

There are thousands of copper mines in the US. I didn't mention any in the eastern part of the US, didn't note any in Alaska either. It would be a 5 hour video to mention everywhere and talk about them. Yes there is native copper in Michigan - some good native copper in Arizona and Alaska too.

I understand but this rock it has got 4 different colors of crystals parallel to each other along it and I dont know whether it is from earth or a meteorite. Eny way thank U for your time.

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

no problem.

“Copper” the new gold

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

In some ways, yes.

@dannybrown3408

4 ай бұрын

@@ChrisRalph here’s a prospector/believers nugget for you. Born again the spirit speaks Gold. So I began a search within. A journey of sanctification and redemption REFINING the inner man. Which brings me to Israel. Reborn May 1948. Does that number look familiar to you Chris because it should. It is also the melting point of gold hallelujah have a great day my friend

¹1¹st. Best spot for copper ore in Southern California desert?

@ChrisRalph

4 ай бұрын

I've not searched for copper in southern California. So I have no favorites. There are copper mines in the so. Cal. desert, so do some searching on Google and I'm sure you will find some possibilities.

@davidkahtava447

4 ай бұрын

We're in cali