This velvety green botryoidal Malachite is one type of growth, the other being fibrous. It is a deep, dark, full-bodied green colour and has grown in a bubble-like botryoidal formation that is commonly seen in Malachite and the piece is highly aesthetic and sculptural.

I call this piece the Mickey Mouse Malachite. When this piece is viewed under a microscope, you can see the small fibrous crystals as well as a small scattering of Pyromorphite on some of the bubble-like faces. Unfortunately, this specimen has been placed in blutak which is really hard to get off. I’ll redo the images once I have cleaned the specimen further.

It is quite rare to see large individual crystals, they are usually pseudomorphs after Azurite or Cuprite.

There are several important Malachite localities in Australia including the Rum Jungle and Batchelor in the Northern Territory, Burra Burra in South Australia and the Sir Dominick Mine in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia.

I acquired this specimen from Greg at Blue Gems at the 2013 Central Coast Gem Festival.