Augelite
Augelite is an collector that is acutely uncommon gem. It is a uncommon mineral that is phosphate is relatively soft (4.5 – 5.0 Mohs hardness). Until a find at White Mountain, Mono County, California, Augelite had been only known as very crystals that are tiny masses. This supply is now depleted. The only sources that are current gem quality crystals are Rapid Creek, Dawson Mining District, Yukon Territory, Canada; Ancash Department, Peru; Groton, Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States Of America. Also these sources only produce very crystals that are small most of which are extremely included or opaque.
Augelite is available at the Västanå mine, near Näsum, Skåne, and also at Hålsjöberg, Värmland, Sweden. At Mbale, Uganda. Within the Buranga pegmatite, near Gatumba, Rwanda. In the united states, large crystals through the Champion mine, White Mountains, Mono County, California; in New Hampshire, at the Palermo #1 mine, near North Groton, Grafton County, and the G.E. Smith mine, Newport, Sullivan County; within the Hugo and Ingersoll mines, near Keystone, Pennington County, South Dakota; in the White Picacho district, Maricopa and Yavapai Counties., Arizona. From the Big Fish River–Rapid Creek area, Yukon Territory, Canada. In Bolivia, from the Socavón mine, San José, and Itos mines, Oruro; at Llallagua, Machacamarca, Tatasi, and Portugalete, Potosí. From Mt. Perry, 75 km southwest of Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia. Extra localities are known.
| Chemical Formula: | Al2(PO4)(OH)3 |
| Aluminum Phosphate Hydroxide | |
| Molecular Weight: | 199.96 gm |
| Composition: | Aluminum | 26.99 % | Al | 50.99 % | Al2O3 |
| Phosphorus | 15.49 % | P | 35.49 % | P2O5 | |
| Hydrogen | 1.51 % | H | 13.51 % | H2O | |
| Oxygen | 56.01 % | O | |||
| 100.00 % | 100.00 % | = TOTAL OXIDE |
| Crystallography: | Monoclinic – Prismatic |
| Crystal Habit: | As thick tabular crystals, to 13 cm, may be prismatic, even acicular, showing many forms, striated; may be massive. |
| Twinning: | None |
| Cleavage: | Perfect on {110}, Good on {201}, Imperfect on {001} and {101} |
| Fracture: | Irregular/Uneven |
| Tenacity: | Brittle |
| Moh’s Hardness: | 4.5 – 5.0 |
| Density: | 2.696 (g/cm3) |
| Luminescence: | None |
| Radioactivity: | Not Radioactive |
| Other: | Slowly soluble in hot concentrated HCl. |
| Color: | Colorless, Yellow, Yellow Green, Greenish, White, light Blue, light Pink |
| Transparency: | Transparent to Translucent |
| Luster: | Vitreous, Pearly on perfect cleavage {110} |
| Refractive Index: | 1.5736 – 1.5877 Biaxial ( + ) |
| Birefringence: | 0.0141 |
| Dispersion: | None |
| Pleochroism: | None |
