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malachite - the peacock stone
A secondary ore that occurs in the upper levels of copper deposits, malachite is approximately 57% copper which gives it its distinctive green color.
Many beautiful specimens of malachite contain special combinations with other minerals, such as azurite, cuprite, or chrysocolla.
Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) is the most important source of malachite today.
Smaller deposits of malachite are worked in Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Australia.
The neighborhoods of malachite carvers in the Ruashi district of Katanga are easy to find as the houses have small streams of green water trickling out of them from the lapidary machines which must be irrigated by water to keep the blades and grinding stones in good condition.
 bands of greens
Malachite's one-of-a-kind banded light and dark green designs give it a unique ornamental quality unlike that of any other stone.

malachite occurring as stains along fractures in sedimentary rocks

In fact, its bands are so distinctive that malachite is one of the most easily recognized minerals by the general public. But, although it's considered a semi-precious stone, malachite's softness limits its use as a gemstone.
Malachite is created when the hydrothermal action of atmospheric agents on copper mineral outcrops combines copper with solutions of carbonated water. It occurs in rounded nodules, grape shapes, cone shapes, or stalactitic shapes.
The banding is formed from subtle changes in the oxidation states of the surrounding pore waters; however, the exact mechanism is still not well understood.

malachite; ruashi district; lubumbashi, congo
photo: malachite

While the most important deposits used to be in the Ural Mountains of Russia (now mined out), today they are in the Congo, discovered in the late 1800's.
A by-product of copper mining, malachite deposits are particularly rich in the mining district known as the "Shaba Crescent" of Katanga Province. There, malachite of carving and jewelry quality is mostly mined by hand in small copper mines, some of them abandoned long ago.

symbolic attributes

miscellaneous
anniversary 13th
metaphysical
energy receptive / yin
planet Venus
element earth