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Baddeleyite
Current inventory:  2 gems
 

Baddeleyite

  
Baddeleyite is named for
Joseph Baddeley, who first called attention to the Sri Lankan material.

Discovered in 1892;   IMA status: Valid (pre-IMA; Grandfathered)

 

Chemistry

 

 

Chemical Formula:

ZrO2

 

Zirconium Oxide

Molecular Weight:

123.22 gm

Composition:

Zirconium

74.03 %

Zr

100.00 %

ZrO2

 

Oxygen

25.97 %

O

 

 

 

 

100.00 %

 

100.00 %

= TOTAL OXIDE

 

 

Classification

   

   

Mineral Classification:

Oxides

Strunz 8th Ed. ID:

4/D.31-10

Nickel-Strunz 10th Ed. ID:

4.DE.35

 

4 : OXIDES (Hydroxides, V[5,6] vanadates, arsenites, antimonites, bismuthites, sulfites, selenites, tellurites, iodates)
D : Metal: Oxygen = 1:2 and similar
E : With medium-sized cations; with various polyhedra

Related to:

n/a

Varieties:

Caldasite

Synonyms:

Baddeleyite (of Fletcher), Brazilite (of Hussak), Reitingerite

 

 

Crystal Data

   

   

Crystallography:

Monoclinic - Prismatic

Crystal Habit:

Crystals commonly tabular and somewhat elongated, or short to long prismatic, to 6 cm; rarely equant; prism faces striated; also botryoidal masses with radially fibrous structure and concentric banding.

Twinning:

None

 

 

Physical Properties

   

 

Cleavage:

Distinct on {001}

Fracture:

Conchoidal

Tenacity:

Brittle

Moh's Hardness:

6.5

Density:

5.40 - 6.02 (g/cm3)

Luminescence:

Blue-green Cathodoluminescence

Radioactivity:

Not Radioactive

 

 

Optical Properties

   

   

Color:

Colorless to Yellow, Green, Greenish or Reddish Brown, Brown, iron-Black; Colorless to Brown in transmitted light.

Transparency:

Transparent; in dark-colored specimens, only in thin fragments.

Luster:

Adamantine, Greasy to Vitreous; nearly Submetallic in black crystals

Refractive Index:

2.13 - 2.20  Biaxial ( - )

Birefringence:

0.0700

Dispersion:

Strong; r > v

Pleochroism:

X = yellow, reddish brown, oil-green; Y = oil-green, reddish brown; Z = brown, light brown.

 

 

Occurances

   

   

Geological Setting:

An accessory mineral in carbonatites and kimberlites; in syenites, diabases, gabbros, anorthosites; detrital in gem gravels; also in lunar basalt, tektites and meteorites.

Common Associations:

Ilmenite, Zirkelite, Apatite, Magnetite, Perovskite (Jacupiranga mine, Brazil);
Fluorite, Nepheline, Pyrochlore, Allanite (Monte Somma, Italy).

Common Impurities:

Ca, Fe, Hf, Si, Ti

Type Locality:

Kollonnagam, Rakwana, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka

Year Discovered:

1892

View mineral photos:

Baddeleyite Mineral Photos and Locations

 

 

More Information

   

   

 

Mindat.org
Webmineral.com

 

 


Baddeleyite is a very rare Ziconium Oxide mineral and is rarely seen as a faceted gem. It is a very dense mineral and has a very high refractive index, although it is usually opaque brownish black to black.

Although the chemistry of Baddeleyite is identical to the popular diamond simulant cubic zirconia (CZ), it doesn't look anything like it. CZ is a bright, transparent, highly refractive material which crystallizes in the cubic system while Baddeleyite is opaque or nearly opaque, usually black and crystallizes in the monoclinic system.

The main sources of Baddeleyite are Rakwana and Balangoda, Sri Lanka. From Monte Somma, Campania, Italy. In Russia, large crystals from the Kovdor massif, and in the Gulinskii massif, the Vuoriyarvi carbonatite complex, and the Imandrovsky layered intrusion, Kola Peninsula; in the Lukkulaisvaara layered intrusion, Karelia. At the Jacupiranga mine, São Paulo, and at Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil. From Bozeman, Gallatin County, Montana, USA. In the Bingo deposit, Kivu Province, Congo (Zaire). From Catanda, Angola. At Benfontein, and in large crystals from Phalaborwa, Transvaal, South Africa. Other minor occurrences are known.
 

  
Baddeleyite gems for sale:

Baddeleyite-001

Gem:

Baddeleyite

Stock #:

BADD-001

Weight:

0.7105 ct

Size:

4.91 x 4.86 x 3.34 mm

Shape:

Trillion

Color:

Black

Clarity:

Opaque

Origin:

Mogok, Myanmar (Burma)

Treatment:

None (natural)

Price:

$85.00    [ Make an offer ]

Pictures are of the actual gem offered for sale.
Gem images are magnified to show detail.

Baddeleyite-001

An extremely rare gem from Mogok, Sagaing District, Mandalay Division, Myanmar (Burma). This gem is very nice with adamantine luster and jet black color with no surface fractures common to the mineral.


Baddeleyite-002

Gem:

Baddeleyite

Stock #:

BADD-002

Weight:

0.9665 ct

Size:

4.85 x 4.76 x 2.4 mm

Shape:

Princess

Color:

Very Dark Brown, Black

Clarity:

Opaque

Origin:

Mogok, Myanmar (Burma)

Treatment:

None (natural)

Price:

$49.00    [ Make an offer ]

Pictures are of the actual gem offered for sale.
Gem images are magnified to show detail.

Baddeleyite-002

An extremely rare gem from Mogok, Sagaing District, Mandalay Division, Myanmar (Burma).


 


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