Azurite with Malachite

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This cabinet specimen of Azurite with Malachite is a showy and excellent example from the mines around Bou Bekker (Bou Beker), Touissit, in the Oriental Region of Morocco. It is a striking specimen composed of a 10.7 x 9.5 plate of deep emerald green Malachite with a soft, velvet-like appearance, but is in fact a hard, finely crystalline cluster with a sharp hackly texture. 'Hackly' is a term usually confined to jagged metallic minerals but fits the bill well in this case. Within the Malachite lie islands of pure deep blue Azurite, the largest measuring approximately 7 x 5 cm on the display face. The Azurite forms broad crystalline aggregates to almost 2 cm wide, all with a bright glassy lustre with odd crystals emitting electric blue when caught in the correct light. It is a splendid example of these two species from Bou Bekker.