Red Beryl
Bixbite (also called Red Beryl) is the red color variety of the Beryl family of minerals that includes Aquamarine (blue), Emerald (green), Goshenite (colorless), Heliodor (yellow), Morganite (pink) and Pezzottaite (red). Bixbite gets its rich red color from traces of manganese added to the basic Beryl formula. Bixbite is a very rare gem and always very small due to the scarcity and small size of crystals. Gemmy crystals are usually kept as mineral specimens by collectors making gems harder to find. Bixbite is usually heavily included and clean gems are extremely rare.
Red Beryl was first found in 1905 in the Thomas Range, Juab County, Utah, USA by Maynard Bixby. The small crystals were found in a rhyolite host rock and were translucent but not gemmy. It wasn’t until the late 1950’s that larger, better quality crystals were found in the Wah Wah Mountains in Beaver County, Utah. This is the only place in the world where gem quality Red Beryl has ever been found. Consistent mining of Red Beryl in the Wah Wah Mountains has only taken place since 1978. But mining has ended at the Violet Claims Mine so this rare gem has become even rarer. Bixbite is one of the rarest gems in the world!
Recently, the red gem called Pezzottaite has been offered on the market as Bixbite by some sellers. It does resemble Bixbite in color and some mineral characteristics, and it is a member of the Beryl group of minerals, but it is not Bixbite. The chemistry and crystal structure of the two are different. Because of these differences, the IMA recently approved Pezzottaite as a new mineral species (IMA #2003-022) of the Beryl family of minerals. Pezzottaite has only been found in Ambatovita, Madagascar. The Wah Wah Mountains and the Thomas Range of Utah, USA are still the only locations in the world to find gem quality Bixbite.
| Chemical Formula: | Be3Al2Si6O18 + Mn |
| Beryllium Aluminum Silicate | |
| Molecular Weight: | 537.50 gm |
| Composition: | Berylium | 5.03 % | Be | 13.96 % | BeO |
| Aluminum | 10.04 % | Al | 18.97 % | Al2O3 | |
| Silicon | 31.35 % | Si | 67.07 % | SiO2 | |
| Oxygen | 53.58 % | O | |||
| 100.00 % | 100.00 % | = TOTAL OXIDE |
| Crystallography: | Hexagonal – Dihexagonal Dipyramidal |
| Crystal Habit: | Crystals are prismatic, elongated or flattened, equant. |
| Twinning: | None |
| Color: | Deep Rose Red, Pinkish Red, Gooseberry Red |
| Transparency: | Transparent, Translucent, Opaque |
| Luster: | Vitreous (glassy) |
| Refractive Index: | 1.567 – 1.572 Uniaxial ( – ) |
| Birefringence: | 0.004 – 0.008 |
| Dispersion: | 0.014 (low) |
| Pleochroism: | Distinct; purplish-red – orange-red |
