Azurite & Malachite

Description

Both Azurite and Malachite have a hardness of 3½ – 4. Azurite has a specific gravity of 3.7 and Malachite has a specific gravity of 3.6 – 4.05. Azurite is the azure blue colored mineral and Malachite is the green. Both minerals get their color from their copper content, both minerals are often found together, and Azurite is often pseudomorphed into Malachite.

Azurite was named in 1824 by François Sulpice Beudant, but was long known by other names, including Chessylite, after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France, and was mentioned in Pliny the Elder’s Natural History under the Greek name kuanos (κυανός: “deep blue,” root of English cyan) and the Latin name caeruleum, according to Wikipedia.

Malachite was named in antiquity (see Pliny the Elder, 79 CE) molochitus after the Greek μαλαχή, “mallows,” in allusion to the green color of the leaves and known in the new spelling “malachites” by at least by 1661.

Azurite is composed of 55% Copper, 37% Oxygen, 7% Carbon, and a trace of Hydrogen, while Malachite is 57% Copper, 36% Oxygen, 5% Carbon and slightly more Hydrogen. Both minerals are commonly found around Copper deposits and would make for a great addition to any element collection, as well as any mineral collection!

If you see something like this near one of the 14,642 known localities recorded for Malachite on Mindat or the thousands of localities for Azurite, be sure to check its status and maybe you could file a claim for your own Copper mine!