Azurite Suns

The blue mineral is called azurite and is a natural combination of calcium, copper and water (ie Cu3(CO3)2(OH2). The containing rock is a clay mineral called kaolinite, often used in making fine which china pottery and as a filler in paper making. The clay may have been altered from a tuffaceous volcanic rock.

The specimen has been carefully mined from an underground tunnel beneath a hill in the desert of Central Australia from the Malbunka Copper Mine bear Areyonga in Central Australia.

The azurite was formed by ground water carrying copper ions moving though the bedding planes in the kaolinite rock formation. Carbonate and copper in the groundwater has nucleated around quartz grains in the kaolinite. The chemical reactions resulting in crystallizing of the azurite have taken place along preferred bedding planes and have moved out evenly from the point of nucleation, often producing near perfect circles.

This material has only been recently made available commercially and is still quite scarce.

Azurite is said to clear stress, worry, grief and sadness, allowing more light into the emotions. Azurite is said to heal throat problems, arthritis and joint problems.