Hello! I recently purchased a stone from my local gem shop and wonder if it may have been mislabelled. He called it "thorndite", but I haven't been able to find any information using that name. I used one of my regular gem websites to search for other similar names, but all I found was "thorite", which seems to match description, but is radioactive. If anyone could possibly help me properly ID this stone, that would be awesome, especially if it really is dangerous to handle. The picture shows it as black, but it is actually a very dark green.
Also , this one I forget exactly what he had it as, something like "millerite" or a variant, which I'm fairly certain is also incorrect. In this form, the radiating clusters of needles are so fragile I can hardly pick it up without them breaking. The pic shows it as greyish, but it's actually fairly dark black, not the colour of something like graphite. And I'm fairly certain it is not stibite / stibnite. Thanks!
If this isn't the proper place for this post, I apologize!
_________________ War does not decide who is right, only who is left
Last edited by WillowArcane on Wed Feb 17, 2010 2:01 am, edited 2 times in total.
howdee, willowarcane, and welcome to the gemology online forum!! i'm not sure if that's thorite or not, but i read that "the estimated radioactivity from thorite is very strong." (from webmineral.com) the description of the material sounds like thorite may be what you have?
hopefully, ms. barbra or amethystguy might know what you have.
the mysterious "millerite" pics i've seen look like what's in the photo.
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:40 pm Posts: 2667 Location: South Dakota
That looks like millerite to me..don't know about the top specimen..i know someone who is fairly keen on radioactive minerals..might link him here..what is the size of the spec.? thorite has short squatty crystals..yours are long and tapered....either way i wouldn't handle it to much..
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My piece is *completely* black, there is no other colour to it whatsoever. Also, it's extremely fragile, and the needles are only a few millimeters in length. It doesn't look at all like pictures I've seen so far.
The first pic is only 1" tall by 2" long.
_________________ War does not decide who is right, only who is left
hi, willowarcane, i read that boulangerite and jamesonite are sometimes mistaken for millerite. jamesonite "needles" are fragile. i hope someone can help you figure out what you have, willowarcane.
Hmm, it does look like Boulangerite could possibly be what it is, or else it *is* millerite but maybe just a rare blackened form of it as it's supposed to be brassy? From what I've seen of it, millerite crystals are far, far longer than what I have.
And HA, I have the second book that is displayed at the bottom of your third link =D
_________________ War does not decide who is right, only who is left
willowarcane, i'm *scared* of those long needles in the second picture.
here's a link of a list of minerals, just in case, it might help you narrow down the search for names of mins, no pictures though, but you could possibly use the web and mineral sites for photos.
Okay, I just tried an admittedly weaksauce attempt at streak. Since the needles themselves are so tiny and fragile, I had to use a flat spot of rock (matrix?) so don't know if this is of any value, but the streak ended up white...
But either way, the FIRST one is the one I really need to know about, if it's radioactive or not!
_________________ War does not decide who is right, only who is left
Why not contact the physics dept of a local university? They can tell you in short order whether or not the specimen is radioactive. The three academic rules are research, teaching, and service... including public service.
hi willowarcane, i found this for you on millerite. from the MWF Newsletter, March 2009, Issue #408, Official Publication of the Midwest Federation of Mineralogical and Geological Societies, Member of the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies, pages 6-9, "Physical properties of millerite include a metallic luster and brass-yellow color, but because of incipient alteration, bronze-yellow and silvery-gray colors are common..."
i would take the specimens to a local university's physics dept. to find out if either of the specimens are radioactive as brian suggested though. please let us know when you find out the positive id for both!
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