Malachite

==Etymology and history==
[[File:Great Orme Copper Mine - geograph.org.uk - 819.jpg|thumb|left|The entrance to the [[Neolithic era]] malachite mine complex on the Great Orme, Wales]]
The stone's name derives (via {{lang-la|molochītis}}, {{lang-frm|melochite}}, and [[Middle English]] ''melochites'') from [[Greek language|Greek]] Μολοχίτης λίθος ''molochites lithos'', "mallow-green stone", from μολόχη ''molochē'', variant of μαλάχη ''malāchē'', "mallow".<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Malachite Malachite], Dictionary.com</ref> The mineral was given this name due to its resemblance to the leaves of the [[Malva|mallow plant]].<ref>{{OEtymD|malachite}}</ref> Copper (Cu<sup>2+</sup>) gives malachite its green color.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Minerals Colored by Metal Ions |url=http://minerals.gps.caltech.edu/color_causes/Metal_Ion/index.html |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=minerals.gps.caltech.edu}}</ref>

Malachite was mined from deposits near the Isthmus of Suez and the Sinai as early as 4000 BCE.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Susarla |first1=S.M |date= 2016 |title= The colourful history of malachite green: from ancient Egypt to modern surgery |url= https://www.ijoms.com/article/S0901-5027(16)30250-8/fulltext |journal= International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery|volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=401–403 |doi=10.1016/j.ijom.2016.09.022 |pmid=27771151}}</ref>

It was extensively mined at the [[Great Orme Mines]] in Britain 3,800 years ago, using stone and bone tools. Archaeological evidence indicates that mining activity ended {{circa|600 BCE}}, with up to 1,760 tonnes of copper being produced from the mined malachite.<ref name="Histuk">{{Cite web |url=http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/the-great-orme-mines/ |title=The Great Orme Mines |year=2014 |editor-last=Johnson |editor-first=Ben |access-date=2017-06-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160420-the-ancient-copper-mines-dug-by-bronze-age-children |title=The Ancient Copper Mines Dug By Bronze Age Children |last=Ruggeri |first=Amanda |date=21 April 2016 |publisher=BBC |access-date=2017-06-06}}</ref>

Archaeological evidence indicates that the mineral has been mined and smelted to obtain copper at [[Timna Valley]] in [[Israel]] for more than 3,000 years.<ref>Parr, Peter J. (1974). "Review of 'Timma: Valley of the Biblical Copper Mines' by [[Beno Rothenberg]] ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 223–224</ref> Since then, malachite has been used as both an ornamental stone and as a gemstone.

The use of [[azurite]] and malachite as copper ore indicators led indirectly to the name of the element [[nickel]] in the English language. [[Nickeline]], a principal ore of nickel that is also known as niccolite, weathers at the surface into a green mineral ([[annabergite]]) that resembles malachite. This resemblance resulted in occasional attempts to [[smelting|smelt]] nickeline in the belief that it was copper ore, but such attempts always ended in failure due to high smelting temperatures needed to [[redox|reduce]] nickel. In Germany this deceptive mineral came to be known as [[List of chemical element name etymologies#N|''kupfernickel'']], literally "copper [[demon]]." The [[Sweden|Swedish]] [[Alchemy#The decline of European alchemy|alchemist]] Baron [[Axel Fredrik Cronstedt]] (who had been trained by [[Georg Brandt]], the discoverer of the nickel-like metal [[cobalt]]) realized that there was probably a new metal hiding within the kupfernickel ore, and in 1751 he succeeded in smelting kupfernickel to produce a previously unknown (except in certain [[iron meteorite|meteorites]]) silvery white, iron-like metal. Logically, Cronstedt named his new metal after the ''nickel'' part of ''kupfernickel''.
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