A gorgeous specimen of Cuprite on Chrysocolla from the Mashamba West Mine, one of the major Copper mines in the Katanga Copper Crescent. The open cast mine was only operated for a few years producing nearly 10 million tons of ore. The open cast was allowed to flood in 1998, with a mooted reopening in 2009, which did not happen. The excellent specimen of Cuprite we have is richly adorned across the specimen, with well developed, intergrown, largely octahedral crystals, some with bevelled edges. The lustrous Cuprites measure to around 1 cm, and the deep maroon colour is pleasingly contrasted against the bed of micro-botryoidal pastel blue-green Chrysocolla. The matrix for these two copper minerals is a light grey rock. A terrific specimen of Cuprite from this now closed location.
