Blue Mineral at Adventure Mine
WWJ-Detroit shares that a bright blue mineral has been discovered at a mine on the Keweenaw Peninsula that so far has people perplexed:
The mysterious mineral was found on rock walls in the historic U.P. Adventure copper mine in Greenland Township, south of Lake Superior.
On Sunday, officials from the mine have posted pictures on Facebook of the mystery substance found on rock walls, but the bright blue material has not been positively identified.
Officials said they believe it to be a secondary mineral caused by a reaction with air and water. The mine operated from 1850 until 1920 and 11 million lbs. of native copper has been extracted.
Definitely visit the Adventure Mine website for information on their tours & the history of the mine. In the Facebook post referenced, Adventure Mine said “This bright blue mineral has not been positively identified as of this post but it is a secondary mineral that is caused by a reaction with air and water. It was found on the 3rd level in a small stope.” A stope is an excavation in a mine working or quarry in the form of a step or notch & the comment thread has some very interesting ideas as to what the mineral could be.
My own personal pet theory based solely on how cool it would be is that this reaction is due to the same mineral that creates the unique iron ore slag known as Leland Blue.
PS: After some discussion with Adventure Mine operators, I realize that I took my kids on a tour there 20 years ago. Super cool & a highlight of our visit to the awesome Keweenaw Peninsula – definitely put a trip to the copper-iest of Copper Country on your Michigan bucket list!
Michigan in Pictures 
This is another “Face Book ” posting. It is a of no value to those of us that refuse to use a corrupt social media platform. I love “Michigan in Pictures” but wish that the daily postings would eliminate Face Book links and photos requiring the use of Face Book. I have always wanted to donate to the Michigan in Pictures web site but continue to refrain from donating because it often uses Face Book to display daily images.
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Apologies & thank you for being a reader, but it’s pretty much impossible to share a story about a Facebook post without bringing Facebook in. Even if I wanted to, it wouldn’t be legal or ethical to copy people’s Facebook comments & display them here.
I try to make things as accessible to people who prefer not to use social media, but as long as photographers like my friend John of Michigan Nut share their pics there, I will be sharing them & linking to them because that’s what Michigan in Pictures has done for 16 years.
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I must agree with Kevin. I have never used FB, it is incredibly corrupt, the world would be better off without the evil that is Facebook. Sorry.
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I agree that Facebook is trash, and Instagram also makes the world worse on the whole. I feel like I do a the best I can bringing in good stuff from those platforms for everyone, including people who’d rather not engage with them.
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Turquoise?
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I did hear that story on WWJ as well (a great source of info for both of us). How fun to realize you had been there years before. It made me think of a story from many decades ago here in Lincoln Park. Someone noticed a plot of land near a creek had grass that turned a bluish-green and had a neon look at night after it rained. Scientists took samples to see what caused the phenomenon and no one knew what it was. It was long before Google might have helped and the story isn’t in the archives.
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