Baryte with Malachite

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This very wide showy plate from Shangulowé mine in the Katanga Copper Crescent is the perfect demonstration of why this mine is so renowned for having produced the finest Baryte-Malachite combination specimens anywhere in the DR Congo. Its matrix is a delicate thin botryoidal crust of deep forest-green glossy Malachite but it is made so special by the well-spaced distribution of striking colour-zoned glassy coffin-shaped Baryte crystals that rise up from its surface. The Baryte crystals are extremely well-formed and in superb condition. They are quite thick compared to many seen from Shangulowé mine, and transition from colourless to white to a golden beige brown at their tips. Many of the crystals are doubly-terminated with several reaching 2 cm in length with many others over 1.5 cm long. This is without question one of the finest Baryte-Malachite combination specimens we have had from the DRC and looks magnificent on display.