Clinoclase is a rare secondary copper mineral and forms acicular crystals in the fractured weathered zone above copper sulfide deposits.

It occurs in vitreous, translucent dark blue to dark greenish blue colored crystals and botryoidal masses.

Associated minerals include malachite, olivenite, quartz, limonite, adamite, azurite, and brochantite among others.

Found at Broken Hill New South Wales, Australia and associated with copper ore deposits in Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah in the United States.

The type locality for clinoclase is the Wheal Gorland mine at St Day, Cornwall in the United Kingdom.