Anapaite
Anapaite is a rare and phosphate mineral that is beautiful. Mineral Maybe, perhaps not. Some mineral purists say that Anapaite shouldn’t be considered a mineral. The reason being Anapaite has a beginning that is significantly organic. The purest definition of a mineral is it is not produced by a plant or animal) that it will need to have an inorganic origin (ie… Anapaite is generally found in fossil shell remains. Does this imply that the Anapaite was created by the shell or did it simply give you the calcium needed or change the environment of crystallisation, such as pH, needed for Anapaite to form? A hydrated calcium iron phosphate mineral to be exact in just about any situation, Anapaite is classified as a mineral. It’s a beautiful and mineral that is unique commonly forms as lime green rosettes or rounded nodules in fossil shells. They almost look like a bright pearl that is green within the fossil shell. Anapaite crystals are indistinct within the rosettes and nodules and may look similar to little bundles of glass shards than true crystals. Anapaite mineral specimens may be very collectable and appealing. Faceted Anapaite is really a rarity that is real.
Areas for Anapaite: in Russia, at an iron mine on Cape Zheleznyi Rog Cape, near Anapa, Taman Peninsula. As fine specimens at Kerch, Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine. In the Castelnuovo and Allori mines, Santa Barbara district that is lignite near San Giovani, Tuscany, Italy. At Messel, Hesse, Germany. Into the Cerdanya basin, east to south-west of Beaver, Catalonia Province, Spain. In America, from Lewis Well, near Corcoran, Kings County, California; during the MacArthur mine, near Yerington, Lyon County, Nevada; in the Palermo no. 1 mine, near North Groton, Grafton County, New Hampshire.
| Category: | Phosphate minerals |
| Chemical Formula: | Ca2Fe2+(PO4)2 • 4(H2O) |
| Hydrated Calcium Iron Phosphate | |
| Molecular Weight: | 398.01 gm |
| Composition: | Calcium | 20.14 % | Ca | 28.18 % | CaO |
| Iron | 14.03 % | Fe | 18.05 % | FeO | |
| Phosphorus | 15.56 % | P | 35.66 % | P2O5 | |
| Hydrogen | 2.03 % | H | 18.11 % | H2O | |
| Oxygen | 48.24 % | O | |||
| 100.00 % | 100.00 % | = TOTAL OXIDE |
| Crystallography: | Triclinic – Pinacoidal |
| Crystal Habit: | Crystals are tabular on {110}, modified by {001}, {010}, {100}, {111}, {111}, {011}, to 1 cm. Commonly in rosettes and subparallel aggregates and crusts of crystals; fibrous, and in nodules. |
| Twinning: | None |
| Color: | Green, greenish white to colorless |
| Cleavage: | Perfect on {001}, distinct on {010} |
| Fracture: | Conchoidal |
| Tenacity: | Flexible |
| Moh’s Hardness: | 3.5 |
| Lustre: | Vitreous |
| Density: | 2.816 (g/cm3) |
| Optical Properties: | Biaxial (+) |
| Refractive Index: | nα=1.602, nβ=1.613, nγ=1.649Birefringence δ = 0.047 |
| Birefringence: | δ = 0.047 |
| Pleochroism: | Not visible |
| Luminescence: |
None |
| Radioactivity: | Not Radioactive |
