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Mining museum’s treasures. Malachite

малахит
© Форпост Северо-Запад

Malachite is one of the main copper minerals. In nature, it is usually found at the deposits rich in copper. Crystals of green copper ore take the form of thin needles, which grow from the center and create radiant spheres. Such forms are also called spherulites.

Over the time, they crawl on top of each other and interlock, consecutively malachite gains botryoidal texture. Each new layer has its own color and shade due to the different copper grade in the solutions. Thus, one can find malachite in the range of bluish-green to deep green, almost black, with strongly marked patterns on the cut.

In the Mining Museum’s collection there is a block of Ural malachite, which was presented to Catherine II by the miners and later on handed over by the Empress to the Museum. The block’s weight is 1.5 tons. According to the legend, the block was initially even larger than it is now, but as it could not pass through the alignments of mine workings, in the end it was decided to cut it. In the Museum, the mineral is stored in a special place. There is a brick well under it, which serves as an additional reinforcement.

малахит
© Форпост Северо-Запад

Malachite
180×107×16 mm
Mednorudianskoye deposit, the Urals

малахит
© Форпост Северо-Запад

Malachite
Pseudostalactites
200×140×50 mm
Gumeshevsky mine, the Urals
From the collection of the Minister of Internal Affairs Count
L.A.Perovskiy, 1847

малахит
© Форпост Северо-Запад

Azurite with malachite
150×100×30 mm
Chessy, France
From the collection of Duke N.M.Leihtenbergsky, 1893

малахит
© Форпост Северо-Запад

Malachite
Weight - 1504 kg
Gumeshevskoye deposit, the Urals
A present from Empress Catherine II, 1789