Calcite

The unique combination of glassy, pink Cobaltoan Calcite and silky, dark olive-green Kolwezite is one of the remarkable mineralogical appearances for which the Kolwezi mining district in the DR Congo is so blessed, and the finest examples of this rare association come from Mashamba West mine. Spanning the rare species audience and aesthetic collectors too, specimens are certainly not common and perfectly balanced ones even less so. This large miniature-sized display specimen is a corker, glistening brightly from its many glassy, transparent, vivid pink Cobaltoan Calcite crystals with three-sided 'nail-head' terminations. Alongside these, and covering approximately half of the display surface are numerous dark olive-green stalactites of Kolwezite which is in itself a very rare copper cobalt carbonate hydroxide. These stalactites are coated in tiny silky to velvety crystals and internally as radiating feathery sprays, as seen along the edge of this piece where the stalactites can be seen in cross-section.