Malachite

specimen number:
1052797

location:
Kolwezi, Mutshatsha, Lualaba, DR Congo

description:
An attractive specimen of banded malachite, this cut and polished on one side.

The Kolwezi mining district, located within the Lualaba Province (formerly part of the Katanga region) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo near Mutshatshia, is one of the most prolific copper and cobalt extraction centers in the world. Geologically, the area is situated along the western end of the Central African Copperbelt, featuring tightly folded and faulted sedimentary strata belonging to the Neoproterozoic Katanga Supergroup, specifically the Mines Subgroup (R2). Hydrothermal fluids deposited massive stratiform layers of primary copper and cobalt sulfides, such as chalcopyrite, bornite, and carrollite, within dolomites and shales, which later underwent intense surface weathering to create rich secondary carbonate and silicate zones. Industrial-scale open-pit and underground mining operations commenced around 1906 under the Union Miniere du Haut-Katanga, followed by state-owned exploitation under Gecamines starting in the late 1960s. Despite periods of civil unrest and shifting corporate ownership throughout the late twentieth century, extraction has expanded dramatically in the twenty-first century through major international joint ventures and automated processing plants, keeping the district continuously active up to the present day.

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