Rhodochrosite
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Crystal ClassicsFeatured
Tucson, Arizona, USAManganese is often viewed as a 'boring' metal, but some of the minerals that it produces are the most beautiful that nature has produced. Rhodochrosite - manganese carbonate - is the perfect example, producing pink and red glossy crystals. The N'Chwaning mines in the Kalahari Manganese Field, Northern Cape Province, South Africa were commenced during the 1960s within a tract of land now known to hold the world's largest concentration of land-based manganese. Although not common, the manganese mines there occasionally encountered pockets of exceptionally well-crystallized Rhodochrosite in crystal forms never seen before and never matched in their quality since. This stunning miniature specimen shows one of those forms in all of its magnificent glory, as supremely glossy highly elongated pencil-shaped, to scalenohedral crystals developed in compact parallel groups. Its colour, a rich orange-red to strawberry-red, intensifies in sunlight and presents an exceptionally glossy lustre that shimmers across the multitude of individual crystal faces at the tip of the crystal terminations. The sides of the specimen show a cross-section through the bed of elongated Rhodochrosite crystals and show fractured surfaces where the sample was trimmed from a larger block, but also reveal that the crystals reach up to 2.3 cm in length. Across the top of the specimen the terminated crystals are mostly in excellent condition. An extremely rich N'Chwaning Rhodocrosite the like of which are becoming increasingly hard to obtain.
Product details
SizeSmall Cabinet
Dimensions6.1 x 4.0 x 3.2 cm
Listed on06/11/2026
SKUCC63042
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Mineral guide
Learn about Rhodochrosite
deep pink to rich red manganese carbonate with vitreous crystals, diverse crystal habits, and renowned localities prized by collectors.
Regional guide
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