Published May 2018  •  Updated August 2024  •  Read Time: 5 minutes
Bornite is a major ore for copper and is often found in industrial mines.  It can be brassy yellow because of the copper inside it, or more grey if it has a higher iron content.  But Bornite can also easily tarnish and when it does it displays a brilliant metallic rainbow and is nicknamed Peacock Ore.  Bornite was named after a Ignaz Von Born a Transylvanian scientist who put together the world’s first public Natural History museum.  Bornite has a happy and sensible energy that encourages us to actively work to improve the present and the future.  It reminds us that good things often take time to create and that the journey of one thousand miles, begins with a single step.

Close up of tumbled Bornite

Bornite Healing Energy

Spiritual Healing Properties

Bornite brings a practical breath of fresh energy into our life. It helps us to stay grounded and to think clearly especially when dealing with complicated issues around morality. Bornite encourages us to integrate old beliefs with new information and to be guided by both our head and our heart. It helps us to find a steady moral center and from that place to make decisions that are logical and just. Bornite asks us to gently set aside anything that is no longer useful or true and to spiritually grow up. Bornite can also act as a midwife stone to ease a rebirth of the spirit.

Vibrations Stone
Chakra Root and Solar Plexus
Element Earth
Numerology 2 and 4
Zodiac Cancer

Emotional Healing Properties

Bornite has a sensible and happy energy. It protects us from negativity and encourages us to concentrate on taking action in ways that will directly improve our present and future. Bornite can also help us to make peace with grief and to accept what cannot be changed. When we are struggling to accept something that feels unacceptable, Bornite offers comfort and compassion. It reminds us that life is still good, even though some parts of it are extremely hard. It asks us to choose to focus on the good, rather than getting mired down in the muck. Bornite promises us that we can be reborn into happiness and peace, and that the power to do so is in our own hands.

Mental Healing Properties

Bornite is an excellent stone to work with when we are feeling small and unworthy. It helps us to trust that who we are right now is enough. That from this present moment, we can take a step forward, we can grow and learn. We can eventually become the person we’ve always wanted to be. When we are struggling to reach a goal, Bornite offers insights into the obstacles that are standing in our way so that we can work around them or find clever solutions. Bornite helps us to think clearly and to be focused on problem-solving, rather then bemoaning the presence of the problem.

Physical Healing Properties

Bornite is said to be an excellent healing stone for physical ailments, especially anything related to the lower body. It is used by metaphysical healers to strength the body and to healthy growth in children. It is believed that whenever our body becomes out-of-balance in some way, Bornite can help us return to a state of perfection. Bornite is also said to help with fevers, muscle spasms, and circulation.

Geology of Bornite

Where does Bornite come from?

Bornite is found around the world in copper mines. Major deposits are located in Canada, Chile, Kazakhstan, Peru, Tasmania and the United States (Arizona, Conneticut and Montana).

Mining and Treatments

Sulfide minerals are the ore minerals for most commercially mined metals including Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Copper. Bornite is commonly mined alongside these more precious metals and is in one of the most important Copper ore.

All Bornite is natural, enhanced only by cutting and polishing. However, Peacock Ore can be lab-created by treating Bornite with an acid-bath.

Bornite Placeholder
Bornite

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Mineral Family

Bornite is a type of sulfide, minerals in which sulfur has been combined with one or more metals. They tend to have simple structures and often have a metallic luster. In the case of Bornite, the sulfide combines with copper and iron.  When tarnished, it may have a colorful iridescence and be called Peacock Ore.

Bornite’s energy works well with its family – other Sulfide minerals.  Try it in combination with Chalcopyrite, Galena and Pyrite

Bornite Formation and Crystal Associates

Bornite is typically found in igneous and metamorphic rocks, particularly in hydrothermal copper ore veins. It is created when iron and copper molecules bond with water.

Barite’s energy works well with its “friends” – crystal associates formed in the same geological environment.  Try it in combination with Malachite

Mineralogy Bornite
Chemical Formula Cu5FeS4
Cleavage Poor
Color Coppery-bronze to gray-purple
Crystal System Tetragonal
Form/Habit Usually massive
Fracture Uneven to conchoidal, brittle
Hardness – Mohs Scale 3
Luminescence None
Luster Metallic
Mineral Family Sulfates
Specific Gravity 5.1
Streak Grayish-black
Transparency Opaque

History of Bornite

Bornite was not included as a distinct mineral in most early lapidaries, texts which describe gemstones and their powers. However, its presence as an ore for precious metals, such as Gold, Silver, and especially Copper, means that humans have been in contact with this stone for millennia and may very well have associated various metaphysical properties to it which were not recorded and preserved.

It was first described in 1725 from a copper mine in what is now the Czech Republic, but it wasn’t formally named for over a century. In 1845 it was named after Ignaz Von Born (1742 – 1791) a Transylvanian mineralogist. He was fascinated by everything to do with mining, metallurgy, paleontology, and chemistry. He also named several species of snails. Born belonged to the Freemasons, a fraternity group whose origins date back to medieval guilds of stonemasons, but had by then evolved into a secret society meant to strengthen character, improve morality and broaden mental horizons. Towards the end of his life, Born initiated Mozart into the Freemason lodge. Born was also a member of the Illuminati, another secret society composed of intellectuals and progressives, who opposed superstition and the abuses of State and religious power.

Born became famous throughout Europe for his development of new ways of extracting precious metals from ore. The Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa (1717-1780) wanted to create the world’s first natural history museum set up along the principles of the Age of Enlightenment. She invited Born to move to Vienna and classify the monarchy’s huge collection of minerals, precious gems, and shells so that they could be added to the public museum. Under Born’s leadership, the museum soon became a center of practical scientific research. Today, it is the Natural History Museum Vienna and claims one of the world’s most comprehensive and valuable collections of minerals, including the largest collection of meteorites.

Bornite offers Joyful Action

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