Malachite

Item Description

A classic Malachite specimen from the famous Katanga Copper Crescent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This area has probably produced more literal tons of Malachite specimens than virtually any other world locality, at least in the last several decades. This piece is filled with sharp and lustrous, thin prismatic Malachite crystals with a strong emerald green color. The beautiful reflective chatoyance can be seen when the piece is rotated in the light. There is actually a vug on the side of the piece which hosts darker green, velvety botryoidal Malachite for a nice contrast against the more fibrous crystals. Malachite of this quality is significant, and is not that common from most localities outside of DR Congo.
From the collection of Armon McPherson, a retired physicist, now living in New Mexico. Armon received his PhD from North Carolina State University in 1985, and worked at the laser laboratory at the University of Illinois at Circle Center. In the summer of 1997, Armon moved to the Argonne National Laboratory where he worked at the Advanced Photon Source, then the world’s largest synchrotron facility dedicated as an x-ray source. In 2001, he was asked to join a team at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque to conduct laser research for DARPA. Finally, staying within Sandia, he transferred to the Z Facility, the world’s most powerful x-ray facility. He retired in the spring of 2017. Armon's introduction to mineral collecting came in the 1980s during graduate school when he attended his first mineral show. He took up the hobby of faceting gems, and focused his early collection on gem crystals, and later transitioned into collecting non-gem species. We are proud to offer specimens from his worldwide mineral collection here for you.