Details
ColorsGreen
SizeSmall
Dimensions4.7 x 5.7 x 2.7 cm
Species
Description
A delicate open cluster of double pseudomorphs of creamy duck egg blue Chrysocolla replacing Malachite after Azurite with a fine coating of Quartz, from a magnificent recent find in the Tenke-Fungurume area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Central Africa. Developed from a sinuous plate of mixed massive pale sky-blue Chrysocolla and leaf-green Malachite are two broad, platy-tabular pseudomorphed Chrysocolla crystals measuring 3.2 x 1.8 x 0.2 cm and 1.9 x 1.4 x 0.5 cm. These sit at a low acute angle to the plate and between are several much smaller individual crystals to 2.5 cm tall, grading from turquoise-sky-blue basal prism faces to duck egg-blue tinted terminations. About nine 3 to 4 mm diameter deep green Malachite rosettes are scattered over the pseudomorphs, providing contrast and an aesthetic foil. Most of the display surface, including the Malachite, is thinly encrusted with micro-Quartz crystals with a bright yet matt lustre. The Tenke-Fungurume area delineates a 30 km copper-cobalt mineralised zone between Tenke hill in the NW and Fungurume hill in the SE of the Kolwezi mining district. The region holds large ore reserves and to date a suite of 31 minerals have been recorded, including some exceedingly rare copper species. This beautiful and complex pseudomorph has a flower-like appearance of unfurled petals, a real treasure from the Kolwezi mining district of the DRC.
