Azurite

Azurite from Malbunka Mine, Areyonga, Northern Territory, Australia, measuring 45 × 40 × 10 mm and weighing 22 grams. This is a relatively thin specimen with a specific mine attribution, giving it a distinct place among Australian Azurites. The recorded locality is the essential link between the mineral and the central Australian occurrence represented by the piece.

Azurite is a copper carbonate hydroxide formed during the alteration of copper-bearing material. It is one of the secondary minerals through which copper becomes visible in a different chemical form from primary sulphide ores. A collection that includes Azurite from several localities can therefore explore both a single species and the variety of geological settings in which secondary copper minerals develop.

This Azurite has a rounded, disc-like outline and an intensely blue, finely textured surface. The relatively flat shape gives it a distinctive character beside more irregular nodular Azurites. A face-on view makes the outline particularly clear, while closer inspection brings attention to the small variations across the blue surface. The specimen comes from the Anne McDonald Collection. Its combination of Malbunka Mine attribution and named collection provenance gives the next owner a clear identity to retain. For a Northern Territory display, it offers an opportunity to place an individual Azurite alongside material from other Australian copper occurrences and appreciate the locality differences that make collecting a familiar mineral continually interesting.