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Identity HelpWollastonite maybe ?

23rd Oct 2016 11:45 UTCPavle Jovicic

What could this be?I'm thinking wollastonite but I'm not sure.I've found it on peridotite.

23rd Oct 2016 12:40 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

There are many different minerals this could be - unless someone here knows the locality where it came from well (and you did not share this information with us) then it's impossible to tell without analysis.

23rd Oct 2016 13:00 UTCReiner Mielke Expert

I agree with Jolyon.

23rd Oct 2016 18:44 UTCPavle Jovicic

Sorry,I forgot.It is from Bosnia from an old asbestos mine.

24th Oct 2016 11:04 UTCErik Vercammen Expert

Wollastonite is not very likely: that mineral is formed where hot magma (with silicates) intrudes in a limestone (with calcium) and reacts with it, forming the calciumsilicate wollastonite. In a peridotite / asbestos mine there are several possibilities, but the most probable are: a serpentine mineral like chrysotile; an amphibole like tremolite; or talcum: this is very soft and can be scratched with your fingernail.

At the place where you've found this specimen, there is a possibility to find more minerals, in the form of needles, crystals in cavities, grains of metallic minerals. See this locality http://www.mindat.org/loc-14445.html as a (very rich) exemple.Good luck.

26th Oct 2016 13:57 UTCHarold Moritz 🌟 Expert

Looks like it could be pectolite, or perhaps natrolite. These can be found in serpentinites.

26th Oct 2016 17:43 UTCPavle Jovicic

Thanks Harold,you might be correct,is there any test I could try?

26th Oct 2016 18:38 UTCPavel Kartashov Manager

I don't think, that this is any silicate at all. And in any case this isn't Ca silicate.

It may to be artinite http://www.mindat.org/photo-225384.html, hydromagnesite http://www.mindat.org/photo-80498.html or even szaibellyite http://www.mindat.org/photo-441569.html http://webmineral.ru/minerals/image.php?id=4720.

Also it may to be similar aragonite.

26th Oct 2016 18:54 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager

Pavle: you could try a test on a small grain with dilute HCl or some other suitable acid.

This would confirm or exclude a carbonate.

26th Oct 2016 22:15 UTCHarold Moritz 🌟 Expert

Artinite a good possibility, forgot about that. But natrolite is the white matrix for the famous benitoite and neptunite found in the host serpentinite in California.

27th Oct 2016 00:25 UTCGary Moldovany

Another vote for pectolite.