Malachite

specimen number:
2133312

location:
Mary Shaft, Courland, Cochise Co., Arizona, USA

description:
Neat locality example, this a loose crystallized cluster of botryoidal malachite. Some damage present but still in good condition. Complete all around.

The historic Courtland mining district, situated on the eastern slopes of the Dragoon Mountains in Cochise County, Arizona, features a complex geological setting dominated by Paleozoic limestone and shale sequences that were heavily intruded by Mesozoic granodiorite and quartz monzonite stocks. Regional faulting and intense contact metamorphism led to the formation of rich copper-bearing replacement deposits, irregular skarn orebodies, and quartz-carbonate veins loaded with primary chalcopyrite and bornite, which later underwent near-surface supergene oxidation to produce exceptional secondary copper silicates and carbonates like chrysocolla and malachite. Hard-rock underground mining and localized quarrying exploded at the site in 1909 when companies like the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company and the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company established the booming twin towns of Courtland and Gleeson. Production peaked between 1910 and 1918, fueled by a dedicated railroad connection that hauled massive amounts of copper, gold, and silver ore to regional smelters in Douglas. Commercial underground operations faced a steep decline due to post-war copper price drops and water flooding in the deep shafts, leading to a permanent halt of major corporate mine production by 1932, though sporadic, small-scale surface leasing, silica quarrying, and gemstone mining persisted at various claims into the 1950s.

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