[Rockhounds] 'Stitchite'

[Pmodreski at aol.com]

One of the interesting things about stichtite is that it just about never  
(perhaps, never?) occurs as recognizable crystals; I think it always appears 
as  smooth, fibrous, foliated, purple layers, often showing a 
slickenside-like  texture.
 
With its chemical formula, as noted, of  Mg6Cr2CO3(OH)16-4H2O, it  contains 
16 hydroxyl ions but only one carbonate per formula unit; which makes  it 
somewhat similar in composition to brucite, Mg(OH)2 .
 
Pete
 
 
In a message dated 4/10/2009 7:08:33 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time,  
donhalterman at q.com writes:

Kreigh  Tomaszewski wrote:
> I came across some purple and green 'Stitchite' at  one of the dealers at 
> our local show that was being sold by the gram.  A Google search after I 
> got home shows it has all kinds of  metaphysical properties. Does anyone 
> have any idea what this stuff  really is and where it might be coming 
from?


It is a legitimate  mineral (though of course it wouldn't have magical 
properties); a good and  reliable place to start is  Webmineral:

http://www.webmineral.com/data/Stichtite.shtml

This  is one of the few truly purple minerals, like charoite and 
sugilite.   I have one around here somewhere.  It is very soft and fragile.

It  is very striking and I'm surprised that it is not more well known in 
the  collector community.

best,
Don
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