Cobre Nativo
Cobre is a mineral with formula Cu, in the Elementos Nativos group. This specimen comes from Minas de Riotinto, Riotinto, Huelva, Andalucía, España.
Description
It carries a small pebble attached.
History of this specimen
It belonged to one of the first serious Spanish women collectors, Maria Amelia Caffarena, who opened the shop La Tierra in Málaga in 1978 out of her love for minerals and because she came to have 12 tons of stones stored at home.
About Cobre
A native metallic element that may occur as masses, wires, dendrites or crystals.
About the locality
Riotinto illustrates Spanish mining’s transition to large industrial enterprise in the nineteenth century. The mining legislation of 1868 consolidated a framework favourable to private enterprise and inflows of foreign capital, fuelling Spain’s mining boom. In 1873, the Spanish state sold the mines to a British-funded consortium, giving rise to the Rio Tinto Company Limited. Large-scale mining, the railway and mineral exports to international markets transformed the landscape and the lives of its inhabitants. Nothing would be the same again: that transaction created a company whose expansion would carry its power to reshape landscapes and communities far beyond Huelva. Copper thus connects this deposit to a history of industry, capital and labour with a worldwide reach.
Technical data
- Catalogue No.
- 0669
- Composition
- Cu
- Name
- Cobre
- Variety
- Nativo
- Group
- Elementos Nativos
- Category
- Meritum Persé
- Mine
- Minas de Riotinto
- District / Municipality
- Riotinto
- Province
- Huelva
- Region
- Andalucía
- Country
- España
- Ex-collection
- María Amelia Caffarena > Antonino Bueno Yawes
- Etymology
- From the Latin "cuprum", derived from "aes cyprium" ("metal of Cyprus"), referring to the island’s historical abundance of copper.
- Quality
- Notable
- Value trend
- Estable
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