“Sugilite clot is 1cm across and is the largest known specimen from the Woods Mine. The sugilite is within a matrix of brown cleavages of a 'mineral' that is quite unstable. Upon exposure to the atmosphere the unstable 'mineral' changes from snow white to brown within a couple of weeks. It appears to be photosensitive. Note that the specimen has been coated with lacquer in an unsuccesful attempt to retard alteration of the specimen. The "brown" mineral (referred to as UK1-2012-(SiO:HMn)) is the subject of a paper in the Australian Journal of Mineralogy, Vol 16, No 2, 2012, titled "An Imperfectly Crystalline Manganese Phyllo-silicate from the Wood's mine, New South Wales, Australia. ”

“Sugilite clot is 1cm across and is the largest known specimen from the Woods Mine. The sugilitie is within a matrix of brown cleavages of a 'mineral' that is quite unstable. Upon exposure to the atmosphere the unstable 'mineral' changes from snow white to brown within a couple of weeks. It appears to be photosensitive. Attempts to describe the brown mineral as a new mineral have not been accepted by the IMA beacuse the chemical composition cannot be determined within the same narrow definable ranges as required for most minerals (Douglas Coombes personal communication 2010). Note that the specimen has been coated with lacquer in an unsuccesful attempt to retard alteration of the specimen. Lacquer will retard oxidation, but did not prevent the matrix of this specimen altering from white to brown.”