Malachite

specimen number:
2102452

location:
Lavender Pit, Bisbee, Arizona, USA

description:

Velvety green crystallized malachite with little matrix. In good condition.

The Lavender Pit, located in Bisbee, Arizona, is a massive historic open-pit copper mining operation developed by the Phelps Dodge Corporation, which began production in 1954 and operated until 1974 to extract millions of tons of low-grade copper ore. Geologically, the deposit is situated within the Mule Mountains and is part of the famous Bisbee Mining District, where Cretaceous and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks were intruded by a Mesozoic granite porphyry stock. This magmatic and hydrothermal activity resulted in extensive copper skarn and porphyry mineralization. The resulting oxidized zones and waste dumps associated with the mining operations became internationally renowned among mineral collectors for producing magnificent, highly aesthetic specimens of bright blue and green copper carbonate minerals like azurite and malachite, as well as native copper and cuprite.

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