Malachite
Other Silicates & Gemstones
Malachite is an opaque green copper carbonate hydroxide mineral. It forms as a secondary mineral where copper deposits weather, commonly in botryoidal or stalactitic masses whose radiating fibers produce curved light-and-dark green bands when cut.
Identity
- Material or variety
- Malachite
- Scientific or material identity
- Malachite
- Classification
- Natural mineral or mineral variety
- Composition or formula
- Cu₂CO₃(OH)₂
- Crystal system or structure
- Monoclinic
- Geological or manufacturing origin
- Can form in more than one geological environment, or combines several materials.
- Mohs hardness
- 3.5 to 4
Origins
Australia · DR Congo · Israel · Namibia · Russia · USA · Zambia
Appearance & optical properties
opaque deep and bright green malachite with concentric bands.
History & discovery
Its name descends from the Greek word for mallow, referring to the plant’s green leaves. Malachite was mined near Sinai by about 4000 BCE, and it later served both as a copper ore and as a green pigment and ornamental stone. Large Russian deposits supplied elaborate nineteenth-century architectural decoration.
Uses & care
- Common uses
- Malachite is cut for jewelry, carved into vessels and ornaments, and sliced for veneer and inlay. Historically it was ground as a green pigment and smelted as copper ore.
- Handling and cleaning
- Wipe it gently with a soft cloth. Avoid acids, harsh chemicals, steam, ultrasonic cleaning, abrasion, and hard knocks; malachite is soft, brittle, and sensitive to chemical cleaners.
Jewellery
6 pieces of Malachite jewellery. Learners earn each one in DigMyGem by learning words; until then it shows as a silhouette.
Malachite Room of the Winter Palace
Jewel
A state drawing-room in the Winter Palace at St Petersburg, designed in the late 1830s, whose columns and fireplace are faced with Ural malachite in the Russian mosaic technique. It was the reception room of Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna.
Photo: Giano II at en.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 
Malachite Bead Necklace
Necklace
A necklace of polished malachite beads whose green bands meet and part around each stone like a map of hills. The malachite came from the Ural Mountains, where Russia's great deposits were found.
Malachite Signet Ring
Ring
A flat oval malachite panel set in a gold signet ring, its green bands left uncut so they run across the stone. It was worn by a traveller as a charm against falls and accidents.
Copper Mountain Bracelet
Bracelet
An imagined Ural bracelet named for the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, keeper of gems in Pavel Bazhov's tales. Its panels are veneered in matched malachite so the green bands flow unbroken from link to link.
FIFA World Cup Trophy
Jewel
The 18-carat gold trophy awarded to the World Cup winners since 1974, made by GDE Bertoni in Italy. It stands 36.8 centimetres high, and two bands of green malachite circle its base.
Malachite Columns of Saint Isaac's Cathedral
Jewel
The iconostasis of Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg is framed by eight columns of semiprecious stone, six of malachite and two smaller ones of lazurite. Between them hang icons that were remade as mosaics when the original paintings decayed in the damp.
