Malachite

Coloured by copper and often found with turquoise and azurite.

Previously worn for protection against danger and illness.

Associated with copper mining areas, malachite is heated to release the copper content, such workings date back to the Bronze Age and evidence has been found in areas such as the copper mines on the Great Orme at Llandudno, Conwy, North Wales, these mines date back over 4000 years and were worked until the late 1800s.

Sometimes quaintly called the "Emerald Isle" stone after the lush green fields of Ireland, and often fashioned as shamrocks, this stone is most abundant in Africa.