Colors with Undefined Names - Malachite

54. Malachite Color 559 - #0BDA51

Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral. This opaque, green banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fractures and spaces, deep underground, where the water table and hydrothermal fluids provide the means for chemical precipitation. Individual crystals are rare but do occur as slender to acicular prisms. Pseudomorphs after more tabular or blocky azurite crystals also occur.

Malachite was used as a mineral pigment in green paints from antiquity until about 1800. The pigment is moderately lightfast, very sensitive to acids and varying in color.

Archeological evidence indicates that the mineral has been mined and smelted at Timna valley in Israel for over 3,000 years. Since then, malachite has been used as both an ornamental stone and as a gemstone.