Detailed information
Species
Cuprite, Malachite
Dimensions
62 x 90 x 25
mm
Weight
200 g
Locality
Tenke-Fungurume area Kolwezi mining district Lualaba, DR Congo
Condition
No recorded repairs
This quite dark looking small cabinet specimen is a really richly crystallized assemblage of copper minerals. Within a bed of deep forest-green scaly Primary Malachite crystals protrude several sizable (to 1 cm on edge) pyramidal Cuprite crystals with their terminations cropped by small flat pinacoid faces (technically speaking cubo-octahedrons). Several of the Cuprite crystals are developed sideways within the Malachite but a couple stand more upright. They are very deep purple in colour with a resinous to sub-metallic lustre. The crystals on the display surface are pristine and look great, but around the periphery several of the Cuprite crystals are partial, where the matrix has been trimmed. This combination of excellent Cuprite crystals with Primary Malachite is classic Democratic Republic of Congo, and this piece is from the Tenke-Fungurume area in the Kolwezi mining district.