Malachite
Banded green copper carbonate, the ore that became a palace lining.
- Family
- Malachite
- Formula
- Cu₂CO₃(OH)₂
- Mohs
- 3.5 to 4
- System
- Monoclinic
Science
Malachite grows where copper ores weather, building up in botryoidal crusts whose concentric bands are revealed when cut. It is soft, heavy and toxic as dust, so it is polished wet. It commonly forms alongside azurite and slowly replaces it.
- Mineral
- Malachite
- Formula
- Cu₂CO₃(OH)₂
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- Mohs hardness
- 3.5 to 4
- Specific gravity
- 3.60 to 4.00
- Refractive index
- 1.655 to 1.909
- Lustre
- Silky to dull
- Colours
- Green, Banded green
Composition
Cu₂CO₃(OH)₂. Made of Copper, Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen.
Origin
- Democratic Republic of the CongoKatanga
- RussiaUrals, historic
- Zambia
- NamibiaTsumeb
- Australia
- United StatesArizona
Filled dots are primary sources
Rarity
Plentiful from the Congo; the great Ural deposits that furnished palaces are exhausted.
- 1 Abundant
- 2 Common
- 3 Uncommon
- 4 Rare
- 5 Exceptional
Hardness
Malachite sits at 3.5 to 4 on the Mohs scale. A steel knife will scratch it; it suits pendants and display more than rings.
Energy
Associations from crystal-healing tradition, recorded here as folklore. They are not medical claims.
Chakras
- Heart
- Solar Plexus
Element
- Earth
Zodiac
- Scorpio
- Capricorn
Planets
- Venus
Properties
- Transformation
- Protection
- Emotional release
- Absorbing pollution
Lore
Egyptians ground it into eye paint and called the afterlife the Field of Malachite. The Malachite Room in the Winter Palace, built in the 1830s, used Ural stone veneered over columns and vases by the tonne.
Medieval Europe hung it on children against sorcery. In modern practice it is a stone of change and of drawing out what is stuck.
- NameFrom the Greek malache, mallow, for its leaf-green colour.
- ToxicContains copper; do not make elixirs or inhale the dust.