Malachite, Part II- Banded Beauty From Russia And The Cargo

One of the earliest-known sources of malachite was mined by the Egyptians in the Sinai Desert thousands of years ago. Since that time, this lovely, green hydrous copper carbonate has been mined in quantity all over the world.

- Bob Jones

To describe more than a fraction of all the sources of this mineral would be impossible in a magazine article, but a handful of sources are astounding, due to the sheer quantity or unusual types of malachite they produced.

Russia’s Ural Mountains was once the source of tons of the world’s most beautiful banded malachite, and the copper mines of the Katanga (Shaba) Copperbelt of Central Africa are currently yielding huge masses of green copper carbonate.

Russia is unquestionably famous for its amazing banded malachite gem material. Artisans, decorators, and museum experts agree that Russian malachite is the most beautiful in the world. It was mined in such quantities that artisans were able to produce breathtaking malachite objects that are now found worldwide. Visit stately palaces in Mexico, England and Europe, and many state buildings and countless museums throughout the world, and you can view wonderful creations made of Russia’s malachite. These objects are highly prized and eagerly displayed, and their value borders on priceless.

Russian malachite exhibits light- to dark-green bands, some so dark as to be almost black. The bands can be any width, from under an inch to several inches wide. The curving, undulating bands are spectacular, taking many forms, from bull’s-eyes to graceful, sweeping curves.

Two Russian copper mines, the Mednorodyskoye and Gumshevskit, established in the Middle Ural Mountains in the 1800s, were particularly productive of large pieces of malachite. Among the multiton masses of malachite recovered was one chunk that weighed around 250 tons, with many others in the 50-ton range! These large masses were not completely solid, but were shot through with vugs and cavities. This made obtaining large slabs impossible, but explains why the Russians developed the technique called “Russian malachite mosaic”.