Orange Lizardite from South Africa

Abstract

Lizardite, Mg_3(Si_2O_5)(OH)_4, is a member of the kaolinite-serpentine group, and is probably the most common serpentine mineral. It has a Mohs hardness of 2–3, and is noticeably softer than antigorite and harder than chrysotile (Gaines et al., 1997). It is commonly green to yellowgreen, bluish green, or nearly black, and rarely yellow or white. It was a surprise, therefore, to encounter faceted bright orange stones sold as 'lizardite' at the 2014 Tucson gem shows. The material was offered by Mauro Pantò (The Beauty in the Rocks, Laigueglia, Italy), who had two varieties: pure lizardite (Figure 4) and lizarditeincluded quartz (Figure 5). Pantò obtained the rough material at the February 2012 Tucson gem shows, in a parcel mixed with sugilite reportedly from the Wessels mine in South Africa. Although the orange stones in the parcel were sold to him as bustamite, an X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis performed by John Attard (Attard's Minerals, San Diego, California, USA) showed that the material was actually lizardite.

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