Kurchatovite

Kurchatovite is a extremely borate that is rare that was found in 1965 at the Solongo B deposit, Vitim Plateau, Buriatia Republic, Transbaikalia, Eastern-Siberian Region, Russia. This is the location that is only Kurchatovite. It is typically found in a matrix of white Dolomite as granular crystals to about 4 mm in tones of pale gray with vitreous luster and Mohs hardness of about 4.5.

Kurchatovite is termed after Igor Vasil’evich Kurchatov (1903–1960), Russian physicist, Institute of Nuclear Energy, Moscow, Russia. Kurchatov was a soviet physicist that is nuclear was the director of this Soviet atomic bomb project and it is remembered because the “father of the Soviet atomic bomb” for his directorial role in the growth of the Soviet nuclear program in a clandestine program during World War II.

Kurchatovite distribution: in Russia, from the Solongo boron deposit, Buryatia, and at the Novofrolovskoye copper deposit, near Krasnoturinsk, Turinsk district, Northern Ural Mountains.

Chemical Formula:	Ca(Mg,Mn2+,Fe2+)B2O5
	Calcium Magnesium Manganese Iron Borate
Molecular Weight:	178.34 gm

 

Composition:	Calcium	22.47 %	Ca	31.44 %	CaO
	Magnesium	8.18 %	Mg	13.56 %	MgO
	Manganese	9.24 %	Mn	11.93 %	MnO
	Iron	3.13 %	Fe	4.03 %	FeO
	Boron	12.12 %	B	39.04 %	B2O3
	Oxygen	44.86 %	O
		100.00 %		100.00 %	= TOTAL OXIDE

 

Crystallography:	Orthorhombic – Disphenoidal
Crystal Habit:	Granular, to 4 mm.
Twinning:	None

 

Cleavage:	One perfect, parallel elongation; two others, imperfect.
Fracture:	n/a
Tenacity:	Brittle
Moh’s Hardness:	4.5
Density:	3.20 (g/cm3)
Luminescence:	Fluorescent; bright violet under long wave UV light
Radioactivity:	Not Radioactive

 

Color:	Pale gray
Transparency:	Semitransparent to transparent
Luster:	Vitreous
Refractive Index:	1.635 – 1.698  Biaxial ( – )
Birefringence:	0.063
Dispersion:	None
Pleochroism:	Slight; r > v