Primary Malachite with Kolwezite

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This combination of rare species and wonderfully sculptural form makes for a really intriguing specimen. 60 % of the world's known Kolwezite occurrences all lie within the vicinity of the city of Kolwezi, and all of those represent the finest crystallized examples of this unusual copper-cobalt carbonate hydroxide species. Of those localities, the Mashamba West mine is known to have produced the very best specimens and that is where this lovely large miniature specimen heralds. As a species, Kolwezite is known to form in a broad palette of colours, from browns to greens. On this piece it presents as fungus-like puff-ball growths, up to 1.5 cm in diameter, pale olive-green in colour but dappled with black, and surrounded by clusters of large crystals of Primary Malachite. The matrix is a complex intergrowth of mixed Kolwezite and Malachite.