Chrysocolla

specimen number:
8911188

location:
L'Etoile du Congo Mine, Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga, DR Congo

description:
Gorgeous blue lustrous botryoidal chrysocolla covering the top of matrix with minor malachite. In good condition. The specimen comes with a previous label from the Alton collection.

The L'Etoile du Congo Mine (also known as the Star of the Congo or Kalukuluku mine), located on the outskirts of Lubumbashi in the Haut-Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has a history of intermittent industrial operation spanning over a century. Initial exploration began in 1907 by Tanganyika Concessions Limited, followed by formal discovery and opening by Union Miniere du Haut-Katanga (UMHK) in 1911. The mine operated through several distinct historical periods of extraction (1911-1926, 1935-1946, and 1953-1964) before being nationalized in 1967 under the state-owned company Gecamines, which ran operations until the late 20th century. After a period of artisanal mining, modern open-pit operations resumed in 2005 under new private ownership. Geologically, the deposit sits within the Central African Copperbelt along the Etoile-Luiswishi antiform, hosted in Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks of the Roan Group. It features a prominent, highly weathered oxide cap rich in malachite and secondary copper-cobalt minerals extending roughly 50 meters deep, which transitions downward into an inclined stratiform sulfide orebody.

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