Home > Burmese Minerals – May 22 > MS1338 Sinhalite

Sinhalite - Sold


Sinhalite is a magnesium aluminum borate. The mineral was first noticed as a cut gemstone, with optical properties that did not quite match those of chrysoberyl and forsterite. The mineral name follows from Sinhala, the Sanskrit name for Sri Lanka, source of the original material (Claringbull & Hey, 1951). Sinhalite shares the olivine crystal structure type with chrysoberyl and forsterite (peridot), which explains the similar properties of these species (Hayward et al., 1994).

This Burmese sinhalite crystal shows orthorhombic morphology, and is about 80% complete. 1.04 cts.