[Rockhounds] "OBSCURE" MINERAL NAMES

[Horst Windisch]

Hi list,

For the past year or so, I have been checking the mineral data base here at the Museum for the Council of Geoscience in Pretoria, South Africa. What I have been looking at is the correct spelling and validity of the mineral specimen names and localities. As the information on the data base has been transcribed from hand-written catalogue cards, quite  a few spelling mistakes do occur. Namr changes of localities, especially in Europe durin the last century also play a great role.

Here for example are two cases which have me stumped, despite checking in various mineral publications and atlases:-

Einkite, Kurvisk, Kola Peninsula, Russia. Nowhere can I find the name of a mineral "einkite". Possibly it could have been a spelling mistake How about "rinkite"? But a search on mindat.org does not seem to indicate a locality in the Kola Peninsula. Any suggestions?

Pyrotrope, Waldheim, Germany. Nowhere can I find a reference to "pyrotrope", not even as a discredited mineral. Any suggestions?

At the outset I must state that I work a few hours per week at this Museum as a volunteer, ever since I went on pension in May 1991. The above-mentioned  exercise has kept me quite busy; checking through about 20 000 specimens. I have been involved in various projects at the Museum, this being the latest one. For queries relating to some European localities, I have inspanned the help of some mineral collector friends in Germany and Sweden.

Any help would be appreciated.

Horst

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