Chrysocolla ps. After Malachite ps. After Azurite with Quartz

A completely naturally flat plate of dark green Malachite is overgrown with pastel sky-blue Chrysocolla replacing the crystallised surface, so forming a carpet-like pseudomorph of Chrysocolla after Malachite. This large miniature or small cabinet specimen is from the Tenke-Fungurume area of the Kolwezi mining district in Lualaba, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo). Going back in the paragenesis, i.e., the sequence in which minerals were deposited or altered, the original plate was that of Azurite crystals which were first pseudomorphed to Malachite. Hence, this complex specimen displays two successive phases of pseudomorphing alteration. Some areas of the blue surface are overgrown by botryoidal mounds of dark emerald green Malachite dusted in a fine sucrosic layer of micro-Quartz crystals.