Azurite with Malachite

specimen number:
2063572

location:
Blue Ball mine, Gila Co., Arizona, USA

description:
A matching set of what was an azurite nodule, this split in half to show the interior azurite and green crystalline malachite. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.

Located in Gila County, Arizona, near Globe, the Blue Ball Mine is a small underground copper claim situated within altered Precambrian granitic rocks and Paleozoic limestone host strata. Commercial mining operations commenced in the early to mid twentieth century, targeting localized high-grade copper oxidation zones where secondary copper and iron minerals precipitated within fractured fault zones. The deposit gained widespread recognition among amateur mineral collectors and micromount enthusiasts for producing exceptional specimens of rare secondary copper phosphates and sulfates, including bright turquoise-blue spherical clusters and radial sprays hosted in vuggy quartz matrices. Although physical extraction was small in scale compared to the massive open-pit porphyry operations nearby, field collecting yielded prized micromount material before active operations ceased and access to the site was restricted.

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