Malachite from Western Australia

Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide, famous for vivid concentric banding in shades of deep to mint green. It forms in the oxidised zones of copper deposits, often alongside Azurite forming Malachite-Azurite, or with Chrysocolla forming Malachite-Chrysocolla. 

On the Mohs scale it has a hardness of between 3 to 4.5 and its crystal system is monoclinic, typically massive / botryoidal with silky to vitreous polish. 

Mined and carved since antiquity (Egyptian ornaments, cosmetic pigments). In the 1800s it became a decorative art darling for example the Malachite Room in St Petersburg’s Winter Palace. As a pigment, natural malachite provided one of the world’s oldest bright greens (especially in East Asian painting) until synthetic greens took over.

In ancient Egypt, Malachite was seen as a stone of royalty, often worn as a talisman of power and protection. 

Growth, transformation, protection, abundance, healing.