Bull’s-eyes Malachite

Bull’s-eyes Malachite
Locality: Kolwezi, Western area, Katanga Copper Crescent, Katanga (Shaba), Democratic Republic of Congo. Copyright © Rob Lavinsky


Malachite

System: Monoclinic
Color: Bright green, with ...
Hardness: 3½ - 4
Streak: Light green
Malachite is a green, very common secondary copper mineral with a widely variable habit. Typically it is found as crystalline aggregates or crusts, often banded in appearence, like agates. It is also often found as botryoidal clusters of radiating crystals, and as mammillary aggregates as well.



A BIG, gorgeous example of malachite that has formed multiple "bull’s-eyes", sought-after in what is otherwise a pretty abundant mineral species, due to its decorative pizzazz. These get picked over very quickly when malachite shows up at shows. There are a dozen bull’s-eyes on this piece, and you can see little areas of light blue chrysocolla as well. The specimen has been brought to a fine polish. Weighs in at 3.7 pounds of solid malachite!



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