No information has so far been found on copper in the Kopeka Valley. (Turnbull/Allibone, 2003) states trace copper has been found on Stewart Island. Geology tomes on the area focus on the various types of granite. Neither do they mention cassiterite or gold, however it was found by alluvial miners in the river and its tributaries as part of a nearby cassiterite rush at Tin Range/Port Pegasus 1888-1890. Petchey (2006) mentions the Kopeka location in passing. Detrital garnets are also possible in the river, based on local geology.

Select Mineral List Type

Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical Elements

Mineral List

ⓘ Cassiterite

ⓘ Native Copper

ⓘ Native Gold

3 valid minerals.

Detailed Mineral List:

ⓘ Cassiterite

Formula: SnO₂

References:

Petchey, P.G. (2006) Pegasus Tin. Archeaological Survey of the Pegasus Tin Field Southern Stewart Island/Rakiura, Science and Technical Publishing, Department of Conservation, Wellington.

ⓘ Native Copper

Formula: Cu

References:

Railton, G. T., Watters, W. A. (1990) Minerals of New Zealand. New Zealand Geological Survey Bulletin 104. New Zealand Geological Survey

ⓘ Native Gold

Formula: Au

References:

Turnbull, I.M., Allibone, A.H. (2003) Geology of the Murihiku Area, Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, p52-53.

Gallery:

List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification

Group 1 - Elements
ⓘ	Native Copper	1.AA.05	Cu
ⓘ	Native Gold	1.AA.05	Au
Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides
ⓘ	Cassiterite	4.DB.05	SnO₂

List of minerals for each chemical element

O	Oxygen
O	ⓘ Cassiterite	SnO₂
Cu	Copper
Cu	ⓘ Native Copper	Cu
Sn	Tin
Sn	ⓘ Cassiterite	SnO₂
Au	Gold
Au	ⓘ Native Gold	Au

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

Australian Plate

Takaka terraneVolcanic Arc

Pacific PlateTectonic Plate

This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

References

Railton, G. T., Watters, W. A. (1990) Minerals of New Zealand. New Zealand Geological Survey Bulletin 104. New Zealand Geological Survey

Turnbull, I.M., Allibone, A.H. (2003) Geology of the Murihiku Area, Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, p52-53.

Petchey, P.G. (2006) Pegasus Tin. Archaeological survey of the Pegasus Tin Field southern Stewart Island/Rakiura, Science and technical publishing, Department of Conservation, Wellington.

Quick NavTop Mineral List Other Regions References

Mindat.org® is an outreach project of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Mindat® and mindat.org® are registered trademarks of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy.
Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2026, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph and Ida Chau.
Content on this site may not be used to train, fine-tune, or otherwise develop artificial intelligence or machine learning models without prior written permission - see our Terms & Conditions.
To cite: Ralph, J., Von Bargen, D., Martynov, P., Zhang, J., Que, X., Prabhu, A., Morrison, S. M., Li, W., Chen, W., & Ma, X. (2025). Mindat.org: The open access mineralogy database to accelerate data-intensive geoscience research. American Mineralogist, 110(6), 833–844. doi:10.2138/am-2024-9486.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: September 29, 2026 01:18:28 Page updated: August 17, 2025 19:10:54

Go to top of page