CHAROITE
Charoite is a rare, richly purple-colored, contact
metamorphic mineral. It's one of the "garbage can" minerals,
having a little bit of many elements. It's chemical formula can be given
as (K,Na)3(Ca,Sr,Ba,Mn)5Si12O30(OH·F)·3H2O
- hydrous potassium sodium calcium strontium barium manganese
hydroxy-fluorosilicate. It commonly has a schistose foliated character,
or is massive. It also forms radiating fibrous masses. It has a
nonmetallic luster and its color is typically purplish, but other colors are
known as well. It's streak is a pale purplish color. Discrete
crystals haven't yet been found, so its cleavage & fracture properties
really aren't observable. It is moderately hard (H = 5 to 6).
Charoite
(purple) in charoitite (a potassic metasomatite) (field of view ~4.4 cm across)
from southwestern Yakutia, Siberia, Russia. More info.