It is a rare mineral found in very few areas, including California, San Benito County, Japan and Arkansas.
You usually cannot walk into a commercial jewelry store and find a benitoite ring or earrings.Single benitoite crystal on matrixWhat else should you know about the physical properties of benitoite? The mine is in the end of one of the branching ridges from the south side of Santa Rita Peak.
The local river that runs through the region is also known as the San Benito River.Benitoite on natrolite – Image credit to Parent Géry – CC BY-SA 3.0Benitoite often is found alongside a number of other minerals, commonly neptunite, serpentine, albite, natrolite, and joaquinite.
The prism faces are narrow, though generally present.
How do you identify Benitoite?The Gem Benitoite mine is located about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco and has a small mining claim (Dallas claim) in San Benito County, California.Benitoite is used for a number of different purposesIt is an extremely rare titanium cyclosilicate blue barium found in serpentinite that has been altered hydrothermally. You too have a chance to find your own benitoite specimen or gem. However the Benitoite Mine Fee Dig has been in operation since 2009.
For that reason, in 1985, it was declared as the official state gemstone.Loose benitoite crystal – Image credit to Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0Benitoite truly is a prize for any gemstone collection. Benitoite has been found in bowlders a few hundredyards west of the mine on the hillside and in the creek.
It is quite a magical thing to turn what looks like an ordinary clay-covered lump of rock into something beautiful!Most benitoite however finds its way into gemstone collections.
The vein and the schist in this cut were much blackened and stained with films and seams of manganese dioxide. This gemstone is typically transparent or translucent. Deeper colored stones may be cut in the same way or with the table in an intermediate position, if the color is very strong. The end of the southward extension of this ridge is a low knob about 160 feet above the creek. The use of benitoite in rings or jewelry subjected to hard wear is limited by its comparative softness. When you do, you will often be paying an arm and a leg for it.Benitoite is a very rare and beautiful dark blue gemstone.
The price you will pay for this beauty? The eastern extension of such a shoot would have been removed by erosion and the western extension would be underground, to the north of, west of, and below, the open cut.An excellent description of the new California gem mineral, benitoite, has recently been given by G. D. Louderback, of the University of California.
How is Benitoite formed?
tanzanite, sapphire) in most cases need heating to excel the color. These bowlders have evidently rolled from the outcrop on the hill above and probably from near the mine.
Notes Benitoite was added in Elite Dangerous: Beyond Chapter Four (3.3). Neither benitoite nor neptunite have been found associated with this natrolite.The natrolite, with which the benitoite and neptunite are associated, does not generally occur in distinct crystals of any size.
For reference, quartz rates a 7, so benitoite is just slightly softer than quartz.Most jewelry featuring benitoite is sold by individual artisans.
You also should avoid wearing benitoite when you are working with your hands or you are doing anything physically active. The story of benitoite starts in 1907 with James M. Couch – a Californian rancher who decided to prospect in the Mount Diablo range with an aim to find copper or cinnabar.
About 30 feet S. 60° E. of the upper end of the huge open cut a ledge of altered blue hornblende schist outcrops prominently. The gemstone’s name is of course derived from the name of the county in California.
Note however that you may sometimes find polished, rounded cabochons. The upper edge of the shoot has been removed by erosion. This gives the crystal a triangular aspect with the corners truncatedby smaller planes. Couch in 1906, who found the first specimen at the Benitoite Gem Mine located in San Benito County. The majority of larger cut stones weigh from 1 1/2 to 2 carats.Doctor Louderback mentions the outcrop of spheroidal gabbro on the southeast of the benitoite deposit on the hillside.
The width at the mine between the serpentine walls is about 150 feet and at a distance of 150 feet east of the mine it is only about 90 feet; about 80 feet farther east at the apex it is over 100 feet.
Although microscopic crystals have been discovered in a few other locations, the Benitoite Gem Mine is the only place on earth that gem and specimen quality benitoite has been found.