ILVAITE

 

Ilvaite is a scarce calcium iron hydroxysilicate mineral - CaFe+3(Fe+2)2O(Si2O7)(OH).  It has a black to very dark gray color, greenish-black to brownish-black streak, striated elongate or platy crystals, and a hardness of 5.5 to 6.  It is principally found in some skarn deposits (it's a contact metamorphic mineral).

 

Ilvaite crystals (black) on quartz (greenish) from a skarn deposit in the Second Sovietskiy Mine at Dalnegorsk, Maritime Province, eastern Russia.

 


 

Photo gallery of ilvaite

 


 

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