Chrysocolla ps. after Malachite ps. after Azurite with Quartz

A small cabinet specimen of vivid sky-blue Chrysocolla overlaying dark emerald-green Quartz-encrusted Malachite on a thick banded Dolostone matrix.  The latter has alternating layers of cellular micro-vuggy apricot-tan dolostone sandwiched between creamy impermeable narrow bands.  The intense sky-blue Chrysocolla is the final stage of a double pseudomorph, replacing Malachite after Azurite, then coated in Quartz.  This specimen is from a magnificent recent find in the Tenke-Fungurume area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Central Africa.  Small intergrown tabular Chrysocolla crystals averaging about 1 to 1.5 cm long form a roughly 6 x 3.5 cm overall area, with a separate group of identical druses further along the specimen.  All the Chrysocolla is coated with sparkling micro-Quartz crystals with a bright glassy lustre.  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 rich bed of showy and brightly coloured Chrysocolla pseudomorphs on Quartz-coated Malachite, from the Kolwezi mining district of the DRC.