Malachite

Malachite is a carbonate mineral normally known as "copper carbonate". This green-colored mineral most often forms Botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic growths. Individual crystals are rare but do occur as slender to acicular crystals. Malachite is a well known and very popular semi-precious stone. It is named for the Greek word for "mallow", a green herb. Its banded light and dark green designs are one-of-a-kind, and give it a unique artistic quality unlike that of any other stone. The light and dark green bands are so distinctive that malachite may be one of the most easily recognized minerals by the average person. A popular design is called “Bull’s-eye Malachite” is produced by polishing the Botryoidal specimens to reveal circular layered dark and light “eyes”.

Polished specimens of malachite are the most well known stones, sold in literally every rock shop around the world. Malachite's green color comes from the copper contained within the stone, and it's the presence of water that affects the various shades of greens -- the more water in the copper, the lighter the green...whereas the less water it contains, the darker the green will appear.

Although its massive carvable forms are well known, its crystalline forms are much rarer and have only recently become available to the average mineral collector. One of its more unique habits is its fine acicular radiating formations or maybe forming on a surface to resemble green carpet or velvet-like coating.