A beautiful stone often purple in colouration, with variations of yellow, green and white markings. Cobalt can also have brown and orange markings depending on the mineral deposits of that particular area. Cobalt is brittle and relatively rare hard metal closely resembling iron and nickel in appearance. One of the richest areas for cobalt is found on the Eastern Highlands; near the border of Mozambique. Its hardness is between 5.0-6.0, on the Mohs scale.