A Pakistan unknown mineral

Hi, everyone.
I have a piece of northern Pakistan mineral specimen (origin unknown). Crystal growth in lithium mica, octahedron, dark green, translucent.
I don't know what this mineral, hope someone can help me.
Thank you.
Deng

Microlite?

From the photo as this is an octahedral crystal my suggestion would be spinel group mineral (gahnite?), although this colour is not normally seen from Pakistan. More information such as hardness would help.

regards,
stephanie

edit- it is probably microlite, just offering other ideas, the other thought was zircon but the zircons from Pakistan are typically red.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2012 04:18AM by Stephanie Martin.

Rob Woodside Wrote:
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> Microlite?

Thanks,Rob.
I found on mindat with a similar to it, but not the same color, so cannot be confirmed.
If it is microlite, it is radioactive, can use the Geiger counter test.

deng

[www.minfind.com]

Stephanie Martin Wrote:
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> From the photo as this is an octahedral crystal my
> suggestion would be spinel group mineral
> (gahnite?), although this colour is not normally
> seen from Pakistan. More information such as
> hardness would help.
>
> regards,
> stephanie
>
> edit- it is probably microlite, just offering
> other ideas, the other thought was zircon but the
> zircons from Pakistan are typically red.


Thanks.
This is not a zircon, spinel has very high hardness, it can easily test out.
Later I return test results.

deng

Microlite. the lithium mica is the usual association for this species.

deng Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Stephanie Martin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > From the photo as this is an octahedral crystal
> my
> > suggestion would be spinel group mineral
> > (gahnite?), although this colour is not
> normally
> > seen from Pakistan. More information such as
> > hardness would help.
> >
> > regards,
> > stephanie
> >
> > edit- it is probably microlite, just offering
> > other ideas, the other thought was zircon but
> the
> > zircons from Pakistan are typically red.
>
>
> Thanks.
> This is not a zircon, spinel has very high
> hardness, it can easily test out.
> Later I return test results.
>
> deng


I can easily scratched with iron knife, so it can be negative gahnite.

deng

Rudy Bolona Wrote:
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> Microlite. the lithium mica is the usual
> association for this species.

Thanks Rudy.
I will buy a Geiger counter, maybe have the answer.In addition to the Geiger counter, got a better way?

deng

Another vote for microlite...

This microlite looks quite pure, or "High" microlite with little uranium if at all. You may not get much of a reading above background with this one.

Rudy Bolona Wrote:
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> This microlite looks quite pure, or "High"
> microlite with little uranium if at all. You may
> not get much of a reading above background with
> this one.


Thanks Rudy.
Yes, this is a very perfect crystal. On the other side of the lithium mica has a same small crystal.
Hope Geiger counter can help me.

deng

no need for a geiger-counter to verify this as a microlite as it probably is U-free anyway, as suggested by Rudy.

There are two other possibilities as I see it, leaving out new species, etc:
(i) Gahnite, has been found in pegmatites, e.g. Maine and Falun, Sweden, but does anyone know of perfect gemmy crystals, such as this one, in pegmatitic pockets?
(ii) sphalerite - nice, green and gemmy, with positive and negative tetrahedra in perfect ballance in pegmatite matrix is of course a possibility, but is it likely?

these two latter ALTERNATIVES are TOO FANTASTIC, it would be the most fantastic sample known of either species in this environment. However if it is microlite, it is a very good but quite expectable microlite crystal found in the normal environment, with the right morphology, colour etc.
thus OCCAM's RAZOR says Microlite



cheers



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2012 03:02PM by Johan Kjellman.

Johan Kjellman Wrote:
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> no need for a geiger-counter to verify this as a
> microlite as it probably is U-free anyway, as
> suggested by Rudy.
>
> There are two other possibilities as I see it,
> leaving out new species, etc:
> (i) Gahnite, has been found in pegmatites, e.g.
> Maine and Falun, Sweden, but does anyone know of
> perfect gemmy crystals, such as this one, in
> pegmatitic pockets?
> (ii) sphalerite - nice, green and gemmy, with
> positive and negative tetrahedra in perfect
> ballance in pegmatite matrix is of course a
> possibility, but is it likely?
>
> these two latter ALTERNATIVES are TOO FANTASTIC,
> it would be the most fantastic sample known of
> either species in this environment. However if it
> is microlite, it is a very good but quite
> expectable microlite crystal found in the normal
> environment, with the right morphology, colour
> etc.
> thus OCCAM's RAZOR says Microlite
>
>
>
> cheers

Thanks,Johan .
Today I consulted my friend, he said: you want to get accurate results, you can only break the crystal, with instrument test.
I heard the news, I just want to say: God, save me!

Hi Deng,

It looks that on the right hand of the specimen as photographed there is a smaller piece of a mineral that may be the same as what you are interested in.

Look at it carefully; if it is the same mineral then you can chip off a very small piece of it and send it for testing by x-ray diffraction or microprobe to tell you what your mineral is. Then you get a reliable result without damaging any of your main crystal.

John Attard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi Deng,
>
> It looks that on the right hand of the specimen
> as photographed there is a smaller piece of a
> mineral that may be the same as what you are
> interested in.
>
> Look at it carefully; if it is the same mineral
> then you can chip off a very small piece of it and
> send it for testing by x-ray diffraction or
> microprobe to tell you what your mineral is. Then
> you get a reliable result without damaging any of
> your main crystal.

Hi John,
Yes, I'm from crystal, color determines whether they should be the same.
Next month I will take samples to my friends with professional equipment for testing. The results after I will send message to website.

deng

Hi!
I have a similar pattern of Pakistan with green zircon and orange microlite .

Alexandr E. Zadov Wrote:
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> Hi!
> I have a similar pattern of Pakistan with green
> zircon and orange microlite .


Hi Alexandr

Can you put their photos let me have a look?
Thanks

deng