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Mineral Specimens with Ettringite
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2.1 x 1.0 x 0.7 cm. A truly outstanding, brilliantly colored single crystal perched on a small bit of crystallized calcite matrix. This is complete-all-around. Excellent quality, and rare now. These were found in the early 1980s.
2.2 x 1.1 x 0.9 cm. A truly outstanding, brilliantly colored single crystal with small crystals of calcite attached. This is complete-all-around. Excellent quality, and rare now. These were found in the early 1980s.
4.4 x 3.0 x 2.0 cm. Lustrous, gemmy, canary-yellow etttringite microcrystals cover the 3-dimensional crust of contrasting snow-white brucite on this fine combination specimen from the Wessels Mine of South Africa. Brucite is an uncommon magnesium hydroxide and is definitely one of the lesser known species from the renowned Kalahari Manganese Field.
2.2 x 1.2 x .8 cm. A nice Ettringite thumbnail with good color and luster. The back portion has been cleaved off or contacted, leaving a surface for very interesting secondary growth. The crystal sits very nicely on matrix, very sharp. Ex. Charlie Key.
A brightly colored, translucent plate of solid ettringite FROM RECENT FINDS, THE FIRST IN OVER A DECADE FOR THE SPECIES. GORGEOUS! 5.5 x 2.8 x 0.8 cm
7.2 x 5.6 x 4 cm. This specimen features a 5 x 2 x 1.7 cm ettringite crystal sticking up from a diagonal shard of matrix. The crystal is a pleasing lemon-yellow color, translucent, completely formed and free of damage. It has an unusual shimmering surface sheen to it, as do most of these. It is very rare to find large ettringites on matrix, particularly with such good display, from past finds (mostly in the 1980s).Like most pieces from this pocket, it exhibits an unusually good tapering of the barrel-shaped termination whereas past finds tended to have a more blocky barrel-shape all the way to the termination. The matrix is a black manganese-rich ore with a thin soft Oyelite (perhaps with Bultfonteinite) deposition on its front side. It is speckled at the lower-left with sparkling micro-hausmannite crystals.
8 x 6 x 4.5 cm. This specimen features a 5.8 cm long, doubly-terminated ettringite crystal perched on a rolling carpet of soft white matrix. The crystal is lemon-yellow color, translucent, completely formed and free of damage - although it has an odd etched or rough area near the bottom termination (that seems a natural growth asymmetry). It has an unusual shimmering surface sheen to it, as do most of these. It is very rare to find large ettringites on matrix, particularly with such good display, from past finds (mostly in the 1980s).The matrix is a manganese-rich ore completely covered with a blanket of soft Oyelite (perhaps with Bultfonteinite) deposition on its front side. It is covered on the backside with sparkling micro-hausmannite crystals.
6.5 x 3.2 x 2.4 cm. This ethereal nicely-sized specimen features a 6 cm long doubly-terminated ettringite crystal perched on a small knoll of soft white matrix. The crystal is a soft lemon-yellow color, translucent, and complete-all-around except for a small, shallow natural contact in the upper-right on one face. It is stark and dramatic, as it rises from the well-trimmed matrix. It has an unusual shimmering surface sheen to it, as do most of these. It is very rare to find large ettringites on matrix, particularly with such good display, from past finds (mostly in the 1980s). The matrix is a manganese-rich ore completely covered with a blanket of soft Oyelite (perhaps with Bultfonteinite) deposition on its front side. It is accented on the backside with sparkling micro-hausmannite crystals.
6 x 5 x 3.5 cm. A beautiful matrix piece, rare for the species, with 5 crystals to 3 cm perched against a rolling carpet of soft white matrix. The crystals are a soft, almost-lemon-yellow color, translucent, completely formed and free of damage. They have an unusual shimmering surface sheen, attractive. The matrix is a manganese-rich ore completely covered with a blanket of soft Oyelite (perhaps with Bultfonteinite) deposition on its front side. It is covered on the backside with sparkling micro-hausmannite crystals.
7.7 x 5.2 x 4 cm. A beautiful matrix piece, rare for the species, with a pinwheel-shaped, 3-dimensional cluster of crystals perfectly centered on matrix. Very aesthetic. They are to 2.5 cm long, starkly contrasting against a rolling carpet of soft white Oyelite (perhaps with Bultfonteinite). The crystals are a pastel almost-lemon-yellow color, translucent, completely formed and free of damage. They have an unusual shimmering surface sheen, very attractive. The matrix is a manganese-rich ore completely covered with a blanket of soft Oyelite (perhaps with Bultfonteinite) deposition on its front side. It is covered on the backside with sparkling micro-hausmannite crystals.
13.7 x 7.5 x 7 cm. One of the larger good matrix specimens, this is a beautiful matrix piece, rare for the species, with a 3-dimensional cluster of crystals perfectly centered on matrix. Very aesthetic. The crystals are to 3.2 cm long and the cluster overall is 5.2 cm across. All are starkly contrasting against a rolling carpet of soft white Oyelite. The crystals are a soft, lemon-yellow color, translucent, completely formed and free of damage. They have an unusual shimmering surface sheen, very attractive. The matrix is a manganese-rich ore completely covered on the front by a blanket of soft Oyelite deposition on its front side. It is covered on the backside with a brilliantly sparkling carpet of thousands of micro-hausmannite crystals and a few little metallic hematites. This combination overall is vastly different from anything else I have seen for the species, and quite unusual in any case.
13 x 10 x 5 cm. This large matrix cabinet piece features a perfectly situated, doubly-terminated, 5cm long crystal perched atop. It is uncanny, how it just hangs there so fully exposed, as if placed gently down, and now anchored by the soft Oyelite and showing both terminations. The crystal is a soft lemon-yellow color, translucent, and complete-all-around. The matrix is gorgeous and unusual: This is a very heavy specimen, as the rolling carpet of soft Oyelite hides a hematite-rich matrix underneath. On the backside, it is nearly covered with sharp bladed baryte crystals atop the hematite, unusual for this locality.
10 x 8 x 5 cm. This specimen is a robust and colorful piece featuring a 5 x 2 x 2 cm central crystal, 3-dimensional and shooting straight up out of the cluster like a rocket. That crystal is very lemon-yellow, translucent, and just plain odd in the combination of form and symmetry. It is complete-all-around, and perfectly terminated, save only a slight natural contact spot to matrix on the right edge face. Other peripheral crystals are not all complete, but add to the overall color and serve to prop up the central crystal. One seldom sees such rich examples of this species. This is a very 3-dimensional piece which has a curving, thin matrix plate as its backbone, from which a cluster of ettringite straddles the center and floats out at the viewer. I think it is a miracle it came out intact. It is actually a floater, complete-all-around, and with small hematite and hausmannite crystals on the back, all nestled in soft rolling white Oyelite.
4 x 4 x 3 cm. This piece features a 3 x 1 x 1 cm, perfectly formed and doubly-terminated ettringite hanging precariously (but securely) on a matrix shard. Aesthetic and unusual.
5.2 x 3 x 2.5 cm. This is a robust, space-filling miniature that exemplifies the qualities of this find: translucency, shimmering surface lustre, and unusual tapering form. It has a rich lemon yellow color, graded to the pastel and soft tones but still very yellow. The crystal cluster is complete-all-around, except a slight matrix bit attached to the back edge. It is hard to explain or convey in pictures, but there is a certain ethereal quality to these specimens that makes the crystals look "soft" and unusual compared to most other large crystalline species. And, this is a rather large example for this species.
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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share specimen![Ettringite, Calcite from N'Chwaning II Mine, N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-262212a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-262212a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Calcite from N'Chwaning II Mine, N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-262213a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-262213a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Brucite from Wessels Mine (Wessel's Mine), Hotazel, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-266930a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-266930a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Brucite from Wessels Mine (Wessel's Mine), Hotazel, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-266930b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-266930b.jpg)
![Ettringite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-272652a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-272652a.jpg)
![Ettringite from Wessels Mine (Wessel's Mine), Hotazel, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-27309a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-27309a.jpg)
![Ettringite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279101a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279101a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Oyelite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279102a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279102a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Oyelite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279103a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279103a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Oyelite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279104a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279104a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Oyelite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279105a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279105a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Oyelite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279106a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279106a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Oyelite, Baryte from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279108a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279108a.jpg)
![Ettringite, Oyelite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279109a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279109a.jpg)
![Ettringite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279110a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279110a.jpg)
![Ettringite from N'Chwaning Mines, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa [db_pics/mdpics/MD-279111a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-279111a.jpg)