View from the Vault: Malachite from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
By Sharon Fitzgerald, Museums
“A View from the Vault” is a new series that showcases some of the unique, notable or rare items that are a part of the Special Collections and Museums holdings at the University of Delaware. Each month, we will highlight a different work and share interesting facts or intriguing histories about it. If you are interested in seeing any of the materials featured in person or want to learn more about any work showcased in the series, please contact Special Collections and Museums at AskSpec or AskMuseums.
Malachite
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Mineralogical Museum Permanent Collection
The most recent addition to the Mineralogical Museum’s collection is a vivid green malachite from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This specimen was extracted from a mine that mainly produced copper. That location is a place where mineral specimens are considered an exploitable commodity for profit.
There are many copper mines in a small area in the DRC. No mineral dealers are allowed in the mines and purchases are made in a central place where many mines may be represented.
Some of these mines are majority owned by China, with Congolese partnerships. It is interesting to see large, expensive malachite specimens that claim the country/region of manufacture as China listed for thousands of dollars online. Since polishing a specimen can be considered manufacture, it raises the question as to the origin of these specimens. Even though they are shipped from China, which has malachite deposits, the prolific production from the DRC and the lack of a Chinese mine locality present questions.
With minerals, locality information is often protected or not well known.
For example, localities in Mexico were often misrepresented to prevent mineral deposits from being raided at night. As a means of protection, Lake Jaco in Chihuahua, Mexico, is attributed as the locality for many species of minerals despite it being a desert that yields few mineral specimens.
For the malachite specimen in the Mineralogical Museum’s collection, Katanga is the reported locality, but that is a region, not a specific mine. The specimen resembles others from the Mashamba West Mine, Lualaba, DRC, but it remains to be seen if that is correct.
