Rhodizite (rare)

Item Description

Starting in the late 90s, we've seen a good number of rare minerals coming out of Madagascar in fine crystallized examples. Certainly, Rhodizite is one of the more impressive species found in Madagascar in terms of crystal form, color and size, for a rare mineral. If you look at the entry for Rhodizite on mindat.org, you'll see that as of right now, there is only ONE confirmed locality for the species outside of Madagascar. The Russian and English localities have either been discredited or are in serious doubt. Before the discovery of Rhodizite in Madagascar, the largest known crystals were originally reported in Russia and they most only measured a few mm. Rhodizite is not only a rare mineral (it's actually a beryllium borate species), but it's a rare GEM mineral that is highly sought after by gem and mineral collectors alike. It forms a series with the fairly recently approved species Londonite with Rhodizite being the potassium end member. This is a great Rhodizite specimen featuring a 1.7 cm, sharp, lustrous, dark yellow color crystal with minor Smoky Quartz and dark reddish-pink Liddicoatite Tourmaline on matrix. The Rhodizite is in very good condition, but please note that it is contacted on the outside edge where the piece was removed from the pocket wall. Nothing new has been found in recent years, so these are becoming very difficult to find on the market.
From the collection Dr. Robert ("Rob") Bowell, a geochemist and adjunct professor in Geochemistry and Mineralogy at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Rob has a background in applied geology in tropical and deeply weathered terrains, he also has done mining consulting in the fields of due diligence, financial and technical audits, process chemistry, environmental geochemistry, environmental engineering and mineralogy.