THE
MINERAL TINAKSITE
- Chemistry: K2Na(CaMn++)2(TiFe)Si6O17(OH)2, Potasium Sodium Calcium Manganese Titanium Iron Oxide Silicate Hydroxide.
- Class: Silicates
- Subclass: Inosilicates
- Uses: Only as a mineral specimen.
Specimens
Tinaksite is named for some of the minerals in its composition (Titanium, Sodium, Potasium, Silicon).
Tinaksite is most commonly found as salmon colored fibrous aggregates in charoite specimens. It is often chatoyant, resulting in a very pretty specimen against the purple charoite.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
- Color is pink, pale yellow or light brown.
- Transparency: Specimens are transparent to translucent.
- Luster: Vitreous.
- Crystal System is triclinic.
- Crystal Habit is fibrous or slender prisms (prismatic).
- Hardness is 6.
- Specific Gravity is 2.82 (average).
- Streak is white.
- Notable Occurrences are Murun, Siberia, Russia.
- Best Field Indicators are locality, color, crystal habit and associations.
TINAKSITE specimen tna-1
$ 90.00
$ 90.00
Dims mm=117.3x47.7x13.0
Wt g=54.1g
Murun massif, Yakutsk, Russia
This is a specimen of the rare mineral tinaksite. It only has a hint of the salmon color of tinaksite, as the habit is fibrous, resulting in a chatoyant specimen. One side has been polished, and the other is rough showing a splintery fracture. A cluster of black aegirine crystals is exposed on both the front and back of the specimen. I suspect that the "polished" side has been coated with a layer of a shellac or a similar material.
tna-1 ($ 90.00)
Murun massif, Yakutsk, Russia