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As Rare As Rocking Horse.....

 

Poudretteite, pronounced “poo-dret-tay-ite” is a rare borosilicate mineral first discovered in the 1960s but not formally recognised as a mineral until 1986 (IMA1986-028).

Named after the Poudrette family, original owners of the Poudrette Quarry where the mineral was first discovered. 

Poudretteite is a member of the Osumilite Group, formula -KNa2B3Si12O30,  crystal system hexagonal and hardness 5. The Type Locality being Poudrette Quarry, Mont Saint-Hilaire (MSH), Québec, Canada.

Originally the mineral was only found in small grains or fragments and considered extremely rare, much prized amongst the MSH collectors who could actually acquire a piece.

This story changed in 2000 when another find was made in Mogok, Myanmar. This discovery provided a range of larger facetable crystals. Producing small clean stones clear to pink-purple in colour with strong pleochrism along the c-axis.

Bringing this up-to-date an there has been another small find 2018 with some excellent terminated crystals to 20mm.
 

9mm poudretteite crystal from Mogok, Myanmar - Joe Budd photo, courtesy irocks.com 

 

Word is that if you want one of these you will have to dig deep - a 7mm crystal was reported to me as having changed hands for over $10,000.

The specimen featured with us is from Poudrette Quarry and is our one and only specimen ever offered. At .8mm it really is tiny, but it probably will be a very long time before another specimen comes along again - either from Poudrette or Myanmar!

 

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