QUALITY ROUGH

AZURITE +MALACHITE ROUGH

This is a natural untreated rough from the Altay region. The blue veins of Arurite make a interesting contrast white host rock along with the green malachite. This makes a interesting stone when polished. This material is in short supply as only small quantities are mined. These stones have been sliced of each other but the size may be a bit different so we have included the smallest measurement below.

Weight 56.28 cts app

Size 36 x 22 x 11 mm app

Note we have taken the photo with the stone wet to give you a idea how it will look polished .We have also taken a photo of both sides of the slab.

Because of its beauty and relative softness, polished, banded Malachite has been carved into ornaments and worn as jewelry for thousands of years. In some cultures it was thought to be a protection from evil if worn as jewelry. Malachite has also been widely used as an ornamental stone. In Czarist it was used to make the columns of St. Isaac’s Cathedral in Leningrad. The original material, from which ornaments and jewelry were made since the earliest times came from an enormous deposit in the Ural Mountains,  where massive globular specimens were found. Malachite is still very popular among mineral collectors, especially interestingly shaped and banded specimens. It is also used as an ore of copper and crushed to make a green pigment. Malachite is usually found with azurite, a blue secondary mineral of copper, but its more widespread and abundant. Some mineral samples have alternating bands of green malachite and blue azurite,  forming what is commonly known in the gem and mineral trade as Azure-malachite.

Malachite is found in Zaire, Australia, and Namibia, Zaire, South Africa,  Australia, Germany, Romania, Chile, Mexico and the U.S. In the U.S.,  localities include Juab County Utah; Morenci, Greenlee, Globe, Gila, Ajo and Pima counties, Arizona; and Grant and Socorro counties in New Mexico. In the Copper Queen Mine of Bisbee, Arizona, large azurite crystals are found pseudomorphed by Malachite.