About

Hello! My name is Yichen Nie. I was born and raised in Shenzhen, China. I got my first mineral specimen in around 2015. That was a classic cinnabar on dolomite specimen from Fenghuang, Hunan. Unfortunately, however, I missed the opportunity to become a systematic mineral collector at that time. Things have changed in 2021, when I decided to formally start collecting copper minerals, just because of their colors. One year later, I moved to Boston to continue my PhD studies. I realized that copper minerals are rich in the US, which makes them much more assessible to me than before. This discovery becomes Copper World — an ongoing project that brings together a growing collection of copper minerals and occasional notes about them. There are now around 220 distinct species in the collection, added slowly over time.

My favorite minerals are organic copper minerals.