Fake Malachite: How to Tell Real from Fake

Identifying Fake Malachite

Due to its popularity, fake malachite is often produced using dyed plastic or resin with distinctive green swirls to mimic the stone’s natural banding.

Real malachite is cool to the touch, has intricate, organic patterns, and being a copper mineral, is relatively heavy. Fake malachite is often lighter, feels warmer, and has overly uniform or repetitive patterns. The colour of real malachite ranges from light to dark green, with prominent banding or concentric circles. The banding is never black, which is a good indicator for identifying fake stones.

Black is used in the production of fake malachite because it’s extremely difficult to reproduce the stone’s natural colours.

Malachite is best known as a smooth, banded stone, but also forms in other formations. It can grow as a stalactite, a hanging formation shaped over time by mineral-rich water, and can also crystallise.

Crystallised malachite forms needle-like or prismatic crystals, often clustered together or growing alongside other copper minerals like azurite.

Malachite can also occur in a fibrous form. This variety, known as velvet malachite, has a silky appearance due to its fine, hair-like crystals.

Most fake malachite is produced in China. Synthetic malachite, also known as ‘man-made’ malachite, is also produced in Russia.

Some fake material is so convincing that it can be difficult to identify, particularly on sight alone, even for an expert.

The malachite in this photo, which looks authentic, is being sold in an online marketplace for £12.95 with free shipping from China. The seller states this piece is ethically sourced. Shipping to the UK would cost more than the price of the stone.
This price is far below market rates for malachite. Material of this quality originates from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where ethical sourcing incurs significant costs.

Given the transportation between Africa and China, plus the low price, which includes shipping, the stone is either fake or, if genuine, will not be as it appears in the photo and will certainly not have been ethically sourced.

The malachite in this next photo, which also appears to be genuine, is being sold for £4.95, with free UK shipping. Both images have very obviously been Photoshopped.Far smaller amounts of malachite come from Russia, Australia, and the USA.

Fake polished malachite can be relatively easy to identify, but the raw material can be far more difficult. Although there are tests to confirm whether malachite is real or fake, most will cause some damage.

Some years ago, fake malachite stalactites were produced in Africa. The stones were made with a thin copper wire running through them, so when broken open, a hole ran through the centre.

A mineral dealer from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who had been around malachite his entire life, purchased a large quantity of this fake stalactitic material. Upon arrival at the mineral fair in Tucson, Arizona, he learned it was fake but sold it nonetheless as genuine.

Buying from a knowledgeable and trustworthy seller is the best way to avoid fake malachite. Price can also be a good indicator because good-quality malachite is not cheap, and, if ethically mined, will be considerably more expensive. The price of malachite has risen sharply in recent months. 

The malachite in the top three photos below is fake. The hearts in the first image in the second row are also fake. The malachite in the next two photos appears to be real, which is further confirmed by the price. 

Having contacted this company to ask about the hearts, I asked if the stone was definitely real. They confirmed that it was and told me the malachite is imported from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the hearts are produced in their factory in China. 

Article Photos

The malachite in the first two photos is fake. The second two photos are from listings in an online marketplace. The final block of photos is from a website that appeared in top place in a Google search for 'cheap malachite stones'.