Calcite with Malachite

specimen number:
9507163

location:
Mashamba West Mine, Kolwezi, Lualaba, DR Congo

description:
Incredibly beautiful vivid lustrous pink translucent rhombohedral crystals of calcite to 0.5 cm in size covering the top of matrix. Small sprays agreed acicular malachite crystals are present. In great condition, the color on this is as good as it can get and is really eye-catching. Just a very intense deep pink color.

Situated within the Katanga Copperbelt of the Lualaba Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Mashamba West Mine near Kolwezi is a world-renowned open-pit operation exploiting sediment-hosted copper and cobalt deposits. The regional geology features heavily folded Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks, particularly dolomites and shales, where primary ore bodies underwent deep secondary weathering and oxidation. Commercial open-pit mining began in the mid-20th century under the state mining company Gecamines, but the site gained legendary status among mineral collectors in the late 1980s and 1990s. During this period, mining intersected extraordinarily rich oxidized zones, yielding world-class collector specimens of cuprite, malachite, cobaltoan calcite, and plancheite before large-scale operations eventually ceased.

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