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Mineralogical ClassificationI was told this is blue barite from Morocco but I'm skeptical...

17th Oct 2016 02:27 UTCDL

This specimen is about 9 cm wide and is covered in highly lustrous, sharp pale blue gemmy crystals of a very odd habit: the crystals resemble stacks of guitar picks! That is, they have two parallel faces, are fairly thick (several mm to 1 cm roughly) and the faces have CURVED sides end in a point, like the bottom half of a Valentine's Day heart or a guitar pick that's been stretched a bit along the C2 symmetry axis.

Can anyone suggest what this is? I was told by the dealer that it was blue barite from Morocco but he didn't seem to have high confidence in the locality.

Thank you!

17th Oct 2016 03:29 UTCBob Harman

DL, Your example certainly does not look like any bladed blue barite from Morocco that I am familiar with. While it is a really nice specimen, it looks too perfect for me to be natural. I think it is man created and artificial. If it is indeed natural, you have a great example of whatever. CHEERS......BOB

17th Oct 2016 05:08 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

If it were colorless, I'd say it was a barite from Potosi, Bolivia. Perhaps it was irradiated to turn it blue?

17th Oct 2016 09:30 UTCTomasz Praszkier Manager

Looks like typical irradiated baryte, for sure not from Morocco.

17th Oct 2016 09:44 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Such baryte specimens where found a time ago at Shangulowé, before the green barytes showed up. See : http://www.mindat.org/loc-4522.html

Probably a specimen from the late 80's. I have one like that.

The form of the old Shangulowé specimens is very different from the recent specimens. Probably from another vein or location in the mine.

Don't know what element makes them blue. Makes me curious.

17th Oct 2016 19:16 UTCDL

Thank you for your thoughtful replies, everyone. Some comments in response to your replies:

- The specimen does not appear to be man made to me. The matrix is quite sculptural (three-dimensional) and is full of tiny dark nodules and the base of the crystals have grown highly intertwined with the matrix, with layers of intermediate matter integrated throughout. If it's man-made my guess is that it would take much more time and effort to create than what I paid for the specimen (around $100).

- The blue color is quite distinctive, reminding me of lazulite (only much less saturated), or scorodite.

- The blue color is also distinctively zoned in each "guitar pick prism" crystal, with more blue towards the flat faces of the crystal, though this trend is not universal across all crystals.

Can any of you share photos of irradiated baryte or Shangulowé barite for comparison?

Many thanks!

17th Oct 2016 19:23 UTCDL

One more note: the crystals are strikingly uniform in their shape and dimension, and they are quite clear (much clearer than is apparent from the photos). You can easily read text through most of them. These two observations seem to contrast with the examples of either Potosi or Congo (Shangulowé) barite that I've seen online at least.

17th Oct 2016 19:41 UTCReiner Mielke Expert

Have you tested them in any way to rule out manmade? For example are they soluble in water?

17th Oct 2016 20:26 UTCPeter Slootweg 🌟

I suspect these to be irradiated chinese barytes like this one http://www.mindat.org/photo-372256.html

3rd Jul 2020 06:36 UTCBill Shen

I recently discussed these Chinese blue barite with some of my friends because I also bought one of them. A friend of mine mineral trader told me that this variety was purchased by him in Sanming, Fujian, and has now been discontinued. To protect his business from the influence of others, he created some wrong places to divert the attention of other mineral merchants. Another interesting point is that when he bought these barites, they were all colorless. He believed that other mineral traders used radiation to turn these barite blue.

17th Oct 2016 21:43 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Here's one of the blue barytes from Shangulowé.

DL, you describe the matrix as with black globules.

This is a typical matrix for these. It's most of the time heterogenite.

Your specimen is more saturated than mine.

Note that the Chinese irradiated baryte have allmost no matrix and when it occur, is never black.

I hope this helps.

Paul.

17th Oct 2016 22:35 UTCDL

Thank you, Peter and Paul-- extremely helpful.

My take:

- It's definitely blue baryte

- From what I can see, the Shangulowé matrix is very similar to the matrix in my specimen, and is full of small black globules.

- The seller said it was from Africa (likely true), and when I asked for more locality information he said probably Morocco (likely not true), but more detailed records were lost

Collectively, these interpretations point to a Shangulowe specimen based on Paul's photo and information.

Thank you!

3rd Feb 2023 03:55 UTCRandy Vance Gage

https://www.mindat.org/photo-372256.html

Nandan County, Hechi, Guangxi, China

I have not seen any confirmation that these are irradiated. Can anyone confirm it without speculating. For example: a sample that is NOT irradiated?

3rd Feb 2023 04:03 UTCKevin Conroy Manager

https://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?loc=34006&min=549

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