Chrysocolla ps. after Malachite ps. after Azurite with Quartz

A double pseudomorph of intense sky-blue Chrysocolla replacing Malachite after Azurite and coated in Quartz forms a V-shaped pair of lopsided horns or even the profile of a tick mark.  This specimen is from a magnificent recent find in the Tenke-Fungurume area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Central Africa.  The Chrysocolla is a stunning sky-blue and either side of the base can be seen a remnant core of zoned light chrome-green, deep emerald-green and bottle-green Malachite.  The tabular Chrysocolla pseudomorphs only taper very slightly towards their terminations.  These form gently rounded domes, probably a result of the final deposition of micro-Quartz crystals over all the surfaces.  The Quartz gives the entire specimen a bright glassy lustre and in places the Quartz thickens to form hemispherical globular bulges of radiating micro-crystals.  The Tenke-Fungurume area delineates a 30 km copper-cobalt mineralised zone between Tenke hill in the NW and Fungurume hill in the SE of the Kolwezi mining district.  The region holds large ore reserves and to date a suite of 31 minerals have been recorded, including some exceedingly rare copper species.  A beautiful V-shaped Chrysocolla pseudomorph from the Kolwezi mining district, mounted on a colourless square acrylic base.