Malachite ps after Azurite, Wulfenite

The Whim Creek Copper Mine in Western Australia is one of the country's classic localities for secondary copper minerals, producing colourful assemblages from the oxidized zone of its copper deposits. During a brief period of collecting in the mid-1980s, the mine yielded attractive specimens featuring brilliant orange wulfenite in association with malachite, chrysocolla, and iron oxides. Little comparable material has reached the market since, making these specimens increasingly sought after by collectors.

This attractive miniature features velvety green malachite pseudomorphs after azurite resting on a dark limonitic matrix, preserving the original crystal form of the replaced azurite. Scattered across the matrix are numerous sharp, lustrous orange-yellow wulfenite crystals reaching approximately 2 mm. The specimen represents a classic association from this celebrated Australian locality and comes with provenance from the Peter Tarassoff Collection, having been purchased by Peter at the Australian Museum in Sydney in 1993.