THE MINERAL PHENAKITE
- Chemistry: Be2SiO4, Beryllium silicate.
- Class: Silicates
- Subclass: Nesosilicates
- Group: Phenakite
- Uses: sometimes cut as a gemstone and as mineral specimens.
Phenakite is a rare beryllium mineral, but it is found so frequently with precious
gemstones that its availablity is not in proportion to its rarity.
It is found in pegmatitic pockets and is associated with gemstones such as
and smoky quartz
The name phenakite, or the alternate spelling, phenacite,
is from a Greek word meaning deceiver
, an allusion to its
deceptively similar look to quartz.
Phenakite is one of the few silicate minerals that have a trigonal symmetry.
This symmetry is far more common among carbonates than among silicates.
Phenakite shares the same symmetry with the emerald green silicate
and the fluorescent and closely related
Fine crystals of phenakite can be perfectly clear and with good hardness, rarity and lack of good cleavage, although somewhat lacking in color and fire, make good choices for gemstones.
- Color is usually colorless or white but can be tinted yellow, brown and pink.
- Luster is vitreous.
- Transparency crystals are transparent to translucent.
- Crystal System: trigonal; bar 3
- Crystal Habits include flatten rhombohedral to almost
tabular and typically short prismatic crystals although some prismatic
crystals can be rather long.
Twinning is common and forms
- Cleavage in poor in three directions.
- Fracture is conchoidal.
- Hardness is 7.5 - 8
- Specific Gravity is approximately 2.9 - 3.0 (average for non-metallic minerals).
- Streak is white.
- Other Characteristics: Prism faces striated lengthwise and
index of refraction is approximately 1.66.
- Associated Minerals are
and some sulfides.
- Notable Occurrences include sites on the Takowaja River, Ural Mountains, Russia;
Minas Gerias, Brazil; Pala, San Diego Co., California; Mt. Antero and Pikes Peak, Colorado, USA and Norway.
- Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, striations,
enviroment and hardness.