Inyoite

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Inyoite
Ca(H₄B₃O₇)(OH) · 4H₂O monoclinic



Inyoite is not what you would call a rare mineral, but good crystals of it have only been found at a few localities and those found recently at the Monte Azul locality in Argentina stand head and shoulders above the rest. I would estimate them to be about ten times better than those found at other localities. The largest crystals in this new find I would think are in the 10 to 12 cm range and a few of them are transparent enough to cut faceted stones from. Mindat currently lists about two dozen localities. With time and in the polluted air found in big cities, Colemanite, a much better know calcium borate mineral tends loose it's luster. It will take time to understand if the same thing will happen to the nice new shiny inyoite crystals from Argentina.
[Rock Currier 2009]


Inyoite
Argentina
Salta, Sijes, Monte Azul deposit

3.Inyoite 17.1cm wide	© Rob Lavinsky

5.Inyoite & Meyerhofferite 9.6cm wide	© Rob Lavinsky

7.Inyoite 8.2cm wide	© Rob Lavinsky

Several lots of Inyoite crystals were collected at Monte Azul but all told probably totaled about 500 pieces. The best of them were collected by visiting American geologists. A few of them have little sparkling Meyerhofferite crystals growing on and in them which you can see. Probably the best lot was collected by a now retired US Borax geologist, Joe Siefke. He had been interested in crystallized minerals all his life and when he saw fine large Inyoite crystals in a trench in the tiny open cast mine at Monte Azul he made an effort to collect as many of them as he could He made plans to go back to Argentina and collect some more of them, but by the time he could manage it, he was told that the pocket zone where the crystals occurred had been mined out. A few of the specimens that were recovered had begun to alter to Meyerhofferite, but none of them were altered completely to Meyerhofferite like the specimens from the Mt. Blanco mine in Death Valley, California.

Monte Azul is/was a small deposit of borate minerals near what is thought used to be a hot spring whose borate rich waters percolated through the soil surrounding the hill and created the deposit through evaporation and crystallization of various borates like Hydroboracite and Inyoite, though only the Inyoite was well crystallized. The mine when the Inyoite crystals were collected was nothing more than a few trenches that the mining company had made to prospect the little deposit. The discovery and collection of the Inyoite crystals was little more than a lucky chance. The geologist, Joe Siefke had been sent to Argentina by the mining company to see if he could help with reclamation efforts at other borate mines in Argentina by suggesting plants that might be used to regrow the natural cover that existed before the mining process striped the vegetation away. He had been involved in a similar effort at their big borate mine at Boron, California. They visited the Monte Azul deposit and others to get some idea of the various kinds of vegetation that existed at and near those deposits. So, its good that the mining company is trying to mitigate the damage caused by its mining and it is good that some fine specimens that would have otherwise ended up in the refinery were preserved for posterity. Certainly long after this little borate deposit is forgotten, the specimens collected there will be preserved in collections around the world.
[Rock Currier 2009]


Inyoite
Canada
New Brunswick, Albert Co., Hillsborough



We need someone to tell us about the Inyoite specimens from this locality and the deposit they came from.

Inyoite
Japan
Okayama Prefecture, Fuka mine

Not significant as specimens, but an interesting example of inyoite from a non-evaporitic environment, it occurs as rare crude crystals up to 2mm size in vugs in skarn, formed by hydration of primary borates.

Inyoite
USA
California, Kern Co., Kramer District, Boron, U.S. Borax Open Pit Mine



Considering the vast tonnage of Colemanite that has been mined at Boron, there shroud probably have been more Inyoite found, but although tons of them may have been destroyed in the mining process, few specimens of any quality at all have been collected and preserved. The one pictured here is probably one of the best ones collected, and you can see that is is nothing special when compared to the ones from Monte Azul Argentina.
[Rock Currier 2009]



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Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.



Edited 9 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2010 09:25AM by Rock Currier.

Japan, Okayama Prefecture, Fuka mine:

Not significant as specimens, but an interesting example of inyoite from a non-evaporitic environment, it occurs as rare crude crystals up to 2mm size in vugs in skarn, formed by hydration of primary borates.

Alfredo, Just stick it in the article. All of the authors doing Best Minerals articles need to get used to the idea that these articles don't belong just to us, but to the entire community. Alfredo, You don't have to get permission from me to go in and make any of the articles I started and making them better and more interesting. In some articles with lots of localities we may not want to load them up with minor examples like this, but there are not all that many Inyoite localities, and the Fuca mine is a locality famous for a number of rare minerals and I often cut those localities more slack than others in describing stuff from there, because they tend to have have their own followings of interested collectors.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Added. The only reason for including it is that I think it's important to know, for each species, what geological environments it can occur in. Someone may be inspired to hunt for it in other than its usual environment.