Braunite Gallery

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Braunite : Mn²⁺Mn³⁺₆[O₈\|SiO₄]
	Wessels Mine (Wessel's Mine), Hotazel, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa 1.7 x 1.6 x 1.1 cm. A super thumbnail of competition quality for the species, featuring 2 large crystals that are doubly-terminated and 1 cm across, perched diagonally in a cluster with smaller crystals. This specimen perhaps best shows the odd modified form of these new braunites.
© Rob Lavinsky	Photo ID: 195651 View Count: 95
Braunite : Mn²⁺Mn³⁺₆[O₈\|SiO₄], Bixbyite : (Mn³⁺,Fe³⁺)₂O₃
	Wessels Mine (Wessel's Mine), Hotazel, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa 5.5 x 4.6 x 2.3 cm. A very rich specimen with these sharp new braunites (to 4 mm), of incredible lustre and brightness, surrounding sharp bixbyite crystals to 6mm.
© Rob Lavinsky	Photo ID: 195645 View Count: 81
Braunite : Mn²⁺Mn³⁺₆[O₈\|SiO₄]
	Wessels Mine (Wessel's Mine), Hotazel, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa 5.0 x 3.6 x 1.8 cm. A brilliantly lustrous, sparkling-metallic plate composed of solid braunite on which are perched a half dozen shockingly sharp and lustrous larger crystals of braunite. The complex form of these crystals is novel, and they had to be analyzed to find out their identity (per Charlie Key, pers. comm.).
© Rob Lavinsky	Photo ID: 195637 View Count: 70
Braunite : Mn²⁺Mn³⁺₆[O₈\|SiO₄]
	Wessels Mine (Wessel's Mine), Hotazel, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa 2.9 x 2.1 x 1.8 cm. This toenail-sized specimen, properly a small miniature, is a solid cluster of these cogwheel-like, super-lustrous, jet black crystals (to 4mm) in a cluster.
© Rob Lavinsky	Photo ID: 195641 View Count: 65
Braunite : Mn²⁺Mn³⁺₆[O₈\|SiO₄]
	Wessels Mine (Wessel's Mine), Hotazel, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa 8.0 x 5.7 x 4.4cm. This large specimen features sharp, jet-black, metallic-lustre crystals of braunite, to 9mm, sharply and dramatically isolated on matrix.
© Rob Lavinsky	Photo ID: 195642 View Count: 63
Braunite : Mn²⁺Mn³⁺₆[O₈\|SiO₄]
	Wessels Mine (Wessel's Mine), Hotazel, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa 4.0 x 3.2 x 1.7 cm. A sharp, isolated 8mm crystal, that is complete all around and doubly-terminated, is the highlight of this specimen. The crystal is sharp and super lustrous, quite unlike previous finds here. The crystal sits on matrix of sparkling microcrystallized braunite.
© Rob Lavinsky	Photo ID: 195649 View Count: 53
Braunite : Mn²⁺Mn³⁺₆[O₈\|SiO₄]
	Wessels Mine (Wessel's Mine), Hotazel, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa 6.3 x 5.3 x 4.1 cm. This large matrix specimen hosts brilliantly lustrous, sparkling-metallic braunite crystals - about 4 nice large ones atop and many minute crystals elsewhere. The large crystals are to 9mm in size and are shockingly sharp and lustrous for the species. The complex form of these crystals is novel, and they had to be analyzed to ...
© Rob Lavinsky	Photo ID: 195639 View Count: 49