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  • A superior malachite pseudomorph specimen featuring expansive crystal replacements with velvety texture and varied green hues. The 12 cm plate from Mexico's Milpillas Mine displays exceptional preservation of original azurite forms, striking dimensional presentation, and represents classic material from this world-class locality.
  • A superior malachite pseudomorph specimen featuring expansive crystal replacements with velvety texture and varied green hues. The 12 cm plate from Mexico's Milpillas Mine displays exceptional preservation of original azurite forms, striking dimensional presentation, and represents classic material from this world-class locality.
  • A superior malachite pseudomorph specimen featuring expansive crystal replacements with velvety texture and varied green hues. The 12 cm plate from Mexico's Milpillas Mine displays exceptional preservation of original azurite forms, striking dimensional presentation, and represents classic material from this world-class locality.
  • A superior malachite pseudomorph specimen featuring expansive crystal replacements with velvety texture and varied green hues. The 12 cm plate from Mexico's Milpillas Mine displays exceptional preservation of original azurite forms, striking dimensional presentation, and represents classic material from this world-class locality.
  • A superior malachite pseudomorph specimen featuring expansive crystal replacements with velvety texture and varied green hues. The 12 cm plate from Mexico's Milpillas Mine displays exceptional preservation of original azurite forms, striking dimensional presentation, and represents classic material from this world-class locality.
  • A superior malachite pseudomorph specimen featuring expansive crystal replacements with velvety texture and varied green hues. The 12 cm plate from Mexico's Milpillas Mine displays exceptional preservation of original azurite forms, striking dimensional presentation, and represents classic material from this world-class locality.
  • A superior malachite pseudomorph specimen featuring expansive crystal replacements with velvety texture and varied green hues. The 12 cm plate from Mexico's Milpillas Mine displays exceptional preservation of original azurite forms, striking dimensional presentation, and represents classic material from this world-class locality.
  • A superior malachite pseudomorph specimen featuring expansive crystal replacements with velvety texture and varied green hues. The 12 cm plate from Mexico's Milpillas Mine displays exceptional preservation of original azurite forms, striking dimensional presentation, and represents classic material from this world-class locality.

MALACHITE AFTER AZURITE

Milpillas Mine, Santa Cruz Municipality, Sonora, Mexico
10.5 x 7 x 2.2 cm
$1,150.00
$1,150.00
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ABOUT THE SPECIMEN

Thin, expansive plate of malachite replacing a group of azurite crystals. This is a superb piece from the Milpillas Mine, a world class location for malachite pseudomorphs like this. The shapes of the replaced azurite crystals are distinct, and one can clearly see a few sharper points. Color ranges from a very dark velvety green to a lighter minty shade. When propped up, it displays a striking exhibit.

 

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MORE INFO

Milpillas is a porphyry copper deposit within the Cananea district of Sonora, discovered in 1978 but not brought into production until 2006 due to low copper prices and difficult terrain - nobody anticipated that its oxidized carbonate zones would yield what became the most significant azurite find in history. Seven such zones were intersected during development, and from 2007 onward one major pocket followed another through 2015, when the mine transitioned into sulfide-dominant ore and specimen production ended abruptly. Pseudomorphic replacement of azurite by malachite occurs because malachite is the thermodynamically stable copper carbonate under most near-surface conditions; rising pH and shifting carbonate equilibria drive the conversion while the original azurite crystal form is preserved as a template. Milpillas pseudomorphs retain sharp prismatic to tabular azurite habits in dark forest-green velvety malachite, sometimes with remnant azurite cores visible in cross-section, and plates reaching 25 cm across were documented. A particularly coveted subset shows a secondary generation of thin azurite overgrowing the malachite surface - the translucent azurite veneer acting as a partial mirror that gives a distinctive electric-blue chatoyancy not produced by azurite grown directly on matrix. Associates including plancheite, brochantite, and volborthite appear on individual specimens. With the oxidized zones now exhausted and no comparable replacement find documented in the district, all pseudomorph material is fixed to what was recovered during the decade-long bonanza.