Malachite Malachite Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula CuCO(OH). This opaque, green banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fractures and spaces, deep underground, where the water table and hydrothermal fluids provide the means for chemical precipitation. Individual crystals are rare but do occur as slender to acicular prisms. Pseudomorphs after more tabular or blocky azurite crystals also occur. The stone's name derives (via , , and Middle English "melochites") from Greek Μολοχίτης λίθος "molochitis lithos", "mallow-green stone", from μολόχη "molōchē", variant of μαλάχη "malāchē", "mallow".
The Malachite Box underdeveloped, at that time there were no specific criteria of distinguishing literature from folklore. The question of authorship arose every time a new story was released, and is still discussed nowadays. Before the stories were released as a single volume on 28 January 1939, the issue became urgent. The publisher was concerned with the title of the book and the author's name. It was suggested to release the book as "The Tales from Grandpa Slyshko" (), as if Vasily Hmelinin was the author. It was eventually published as "The Malachite Box". Bazhov was not certain of the authorship himself. He