Schorl-Dravite-Foitite Tourmaline

Obira Mine, Bungo-Ono City,

Oita Prefecture, Japan

Ex Jimmy & Hisami McNeil

Photo by Tomer Shapira

The trash-can mineral family: Tourmaline.

What species is this? Dravite? Schorl? Foitite?

Yes.

The entire family forms a wacky solid solution series with over 30 different species as "end-members". In reality, you never get a pure end member. Plus it is far from uncommon to get multiple in one crystal. Here we have a good example of this: the black radial sprays of tourmaline that come out of the Obira mine in Japan have a composition that is altering between Dravite, Schorl, and Foitite.