Malachite (repaired 3x)

specimen number:
8282469

location:
L'Etoile du Congo Mine, Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga, DR Congo

description:
An attractive specimen showing a series of crystallized lustrous green malachite stalactites coming off matrix. This has been repaired in two places as seen. The specimen comes with a custom acrylic display base.

The L'Etoile du Congo Mine, also known as the Star of the Congo Mine or Kalukuluku, is situated near Lubumbashi in the Haut-Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Historically, formal exploration of the area began around 1907 by Tanganyika Concessions Limited, and the ore body was discovered in 1911 by Union Miniere du Haut-Katanga, leading to decades of intermittent open-pit copper and cobalt extraction under both colonial and state-owned enterprises. Geologically, the deposit lies within the heart of the prolific Central African Copperbelt, featuring a prominent, deeply weathered oxide cap sitting atop inclined stratiform sulfide orebodies hosted within complex Neoproterozoic sedimentary sequences of the Roan Group. Mineralogically, the mine is exceptionally famous among collectors and scientists alike for producing world-class secondary copper minerals, notably stunning botryoidal and acicular malachite, vibrant chrysocolla, and serving as the type locality for the rare copper phosphate mineral cornetite.

Questions about this specimen?
Send an email or call us: 314-341-1811.