Granate Andradita
Granate is a mineral with formula Ca₃Fe₂(SiO₄)₃, in the Silicatos group. This specimen comes from Sibinndi, Diakon, Bafoulabé Cercle, Kayes, Mali.
Description
Intense honey-golden dodecahedral crystals with vitreous lustre, well-defined faces, and a dominant main crystal that imparts aesthetic presence.
About Granate
Andradite is a garnet of the silicate group, a calcium-iron variety, forming dodecahedral or trapezohedral crystals with adamantine lustre. In Mali it occurs in golden to green hues, often transparent and very bright.
About the locality
The Sibinndi deposit, in the Kayes region (Mali), produces honey-golden andradite garnets in metamorphic limestone matrix. It is a classic African locality, known for the quality of its crystals.
Technical data
- Catalogue No.
- 0209
- Composition
- Ca₃Fe₂(SiO₄)₃
- Name
- Granate
- Variety
- Andradita
- Group
- Silicatos
- Category
- Meritum Persé
- Matrix
- Matriz beige terrosa
- Mine
- Sibinndi
- District / Municipality
- Diakon
- Province
- Bafoulabé Cercle
- Region
- Kayes
- Country
- Mali
- Size (cm)
- 3.9 x 3.5 x 3
- Weight
- 27 g
- Etymology
- Named in 1868 by James Dwight Dana in honour of José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva (1763–1838), a Brazilian mineralogist who had previously described the mineral allochroite in Norway.
- Quality
- Muy buena
- Value trend
- Estable
Related specimens
- Aerinita (fibrosa) — España
- Apofilita — India
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- Boltwoodita — Namibia
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- Coffinita — Estados Unidos
- Calcedonia Estalactítica — India