Azurite

specimen number:
2354284

location:
Apex Mine, St. George, Washington Co., Utah, USA

description:
Blue botryoidal crystallized azurite covering most of the top of matrix with green botryoidal malachite. In good condition.

The Apex Mine, located in the Jarvis Peak district near St. George in Washington County, Utah, is a geologically unique deposit situated in oxidized, fault-controlled Mississippian limestone structures. Originally opened in the late nineteenth century as a small copper and silver producer, the mine later gained international significance in the mid-twentieth century when extensive supergene enrichment was found to concentrate extremely high levels of rare strategic metals, particularly germanium and gallium. Commercial operations eventually transformed it into the primary domestic source for these critical elements, while mineral collectors prize the locality for its colorful secondary minerals, including azurite, malachite, and rare copper arsenates and carbonates preserved in oxidized iron-rich gossan pockets.

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