Malachite with Quartz

specimen number:
9506140

location:
Mindingi mine, Kambove, Haut-Katanga, DR Congo

description:

A unique and very attractive combination piece for this area, sparkling deep green botryoidal crystallized malachite across the top of quartz crystals. This is in excellent condition.

The Mindingi mine, situated in the Kambove territory of the Haut-Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was operated as an open-pit copper and cobalt mine during the 1930s and 1940s. Geologically, the deposit lies within the Central African Copperbelt and is hosted in the sedimentary rocks of the Neoproterozoic Mines Subgroup, part of the Roan Group. These stratabound deposits underwent structural deformation during the Lufilian Orogeny, followed by extensive supergene weathering. This weathering process oxidized the primary copper and cobalt sulfides, creating secondary minerals in the upper zones of the deposit. The mine is historically recognized for producing early documented specimens of cobaltoan calcite, as well as malachite and quartz.

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