[Rockhounds] Orlymanite

[Horst Windisch]

Hi everyone,

In the first part of this e-mail, the locality is spelt wrong - NOT 
"Kuraman" BUT "Kuruman" (as it appears correct at the end of the text).

Also the pronounciation of many minerals are different in the (American) 
English and the (English) English, so one can argue this point till the cows 
come home. I know Clive Queit personally and he speaks a "South African" 
English which is very much closer the "English" English than the "American" 
English.

Horst in South Africa

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <ROCKCURRIER at cs.com>
To: <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 12:43 PM
Subject: [Rockhounds] Orlymanite


> Orlymanite
> Ca4Mn32+Si8O20(OH)6•2H2O
> Republic of South Africa, Northern Cape Province, Hotazal, near Kuraman, 
> Kalahari Manganese Fields, Wessels Mine
> In the original article on Orlymanite in the American Mineralogist sited 
> below, the mineral is described as a link between gyrolite-family minerals 
> and conventional phylosilicates.
> “Orlymanite occurs as layers of dark brown, radiating, tightly packed 
> rosettes that form spheres 2-3mm in diameter, or more irregular aggregates 
> resembling a botryoidal texture in cross section. Such material forms a 
> discont8nuous core of a specimen that appears to be a form of vein. In the 
> aggregate, the Orlymanite resembles a radial fibrous johannsenite in 
> texture, but on a smaller scale. The luster is vitreous, the streak is 
> light brown, and there is no discernible response to ultraviolet 
> radiation. The fibrils are elongate on a, an uncommon orientation for a 
> hexagonal mineral; cleavage is  perfect on {001} and easily produced. 
> Incipient cleavages are abundant. Orlymanite has been found in only one 
> specimen, labeled as being from the Wessels mine in the Republic of South 
> Africa. There is no information regarding its specific geologic 
> occurrence.1” Although at the time there was only one specimen known to 
> the investigators Peacor, D.R., Dunn P.J. and Nelen J.A. soon ma!
> ny specimens came to light. There are many specimens kicking around and 
> many of them are not recognized as containing Orlymanite. When ever you 
> see a specimen of inesite from the Kuraman manganese field, turn it over 
> and look for little brown fibrous ball like material on its back. If you 
> see some, most likely it will be Orlymanite.
>
> Here is the story of Orlymanite direct from Joel Bartsch, the guy who 
> first thought it might be a new mineral and probably more than anyone else 
> responsible for its name. One of Joel Bartsch’s first curateing jobs was 
> for the Lyman House museum in Hilo Hawaii. He has gone on to better things 
> and is now director of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, home of many 
> of the Worlds best specimens.
>
> ”I have always been amused by the fact that when first described, 
> orlymanite was known only from the one specimen...hence the label at the 
> Lyman Museum…After Pete (Dunn) agreed to work on it, he broke it in half, 
> sent half back to me in Hilo, and kept the other half for testing, etc. I 
> presume that it is still in the Smithsonian as the type specimen. As I 
> understand it, it is still supposedly relatively rare (according to 
> various dealers) although I recall seeing several flats (a couple of 
> hundred pieces) of mini's and small cabs at Clive Queit's booth in Tucson 
> a few years back. It wouldn't surprise me if there were actually tons of 
> it around....it is a matted fibrous looking material that ranges from 
> brownish beige to pinkish and it is quite unattractive. The point being 
> that there is probably a lot more of it around but in all likelihood it is 
> almost wholly overlooked by the vast majority of collector's because it is 
> so esthetically challenged. Batches still appear in!
> termittently so I doubt that it is a "single find" mineral. Also, it might 
> interest you to know that Clive INSISTED that the name be pronounced 
> "orly-MAN-ite" I did not bother to correct him at the time, but just for 
> the record, I should be pronounced "or-LIE-manite", because it is a 
> conflation of "Orlando Lyman." As an aside, Orlando Lyman (he was 92 yrs 
> old when he hired me) used a line on me that I still laugh about to this 
> day. He was a direct descendant of the Lyman missionary family who arrived 
> from New England in Hawaii in 1822 to spread the good word of salvation to 
> the indigenous island peoples. In my youthful naiveté, I asked him how 
> such humble men of the cloth were able to amass such GIANT estates (at one 
> time, he and his buds owned most of the Island of Hawaii, including all of 
> the sugar cane, and all of the fresh water, and every other utility, and 
> now that I come to think about it, just about everything else there was to 
> own). After a long discourse about ha!
> rd work, frugality, opportunity the classic protestant work ethic kind
> a
> stuff, he ended the conversation by saying...."Look at it this way...we 
> came to Hawaii to do good...and we ended up doing extremely well.2"
>
> Tony Nikischer of Excalibur Minerals who is an old war horse, in the rare 
> species game provides further information about Orlymanite. “…sold it in 
> 1992 and then replenished and sold again in 1997 (generic description 
> below). One of the better pieces, a small fist-sized one, was sold to Joe 
> CIlen that I subsequently bought back when I obtained much of his 
> collection from Steve Phillips. The olymanite was in a thick seam (1cm" of 
> tightly packed radiating balls), capped by inesite. It wasn't bad to look 
> at, but the stuff is generally ugly. I think it was probably widespread in 
> the early 90's, but no one bothered with it because of the superior 
> inesite on the samples. I still have a few, like the description below. I 
> think N'Chwaning and Wessels are the only localities. (Incidentally, most 
> internet pictures of the stuff I have seen are the inesite, not the 
> orlymanite!)3”
>
> “ORLYMANITE w/ INESITE- N'Chwaning Mine, Kuruman, Rep. So. Africa This 
> relatively new species (1990) occurs as layers of dark brown radiating 
> rosettes in seams underneath well-developed radiating platelets of deep 
> rose colored inesite crystals. Originally known from a only single 
> specimen, these are quite rich and unusual with other possible 
> associations as well. Sizes from 2.5cm to nearly 6cm @ 35.00, 50.00, 
> 75.00, 100.00 and 125.00 each. Quite attractive due to the inesite!2
>
> This further demonstrates that Orlymanite is far from being a rare mineral 
> and Tony will be glad to sell you one if you want to buy it. I have a nice 
> one in my collection from Forest Cureton, a former rare species dealer and 
> he certainly had a number of them.
> 1. American Mineralogist 1990, Vol 75, p923-927. 2. Joel Bartsch, personal 
> communication 2006. 3. Tony Nikischer, personal communication 2006.
>
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