Home > Borate Minerals – April 22 > MS1787 Manganaxinite
Manganaxinite - Sold
- Little 3 mine
- Ramona
- San Diego County
- California
- U.S.A.
- 2.5 × 2.2 × 0.2 cm – Thumbnail specimen (fits into a 2.5 cm cube)
Manganaxinite is a manganese calcium aluminum borate-silicate. The mineral name recalls the long established iron-dominant axinite named by René Haüy in his 1801 Traité de Minéralogie, for its axe-like crystal shape. Fromme (1909) first applied the name manganaxinite to samples from New Jersey which had molar Mn in excess of molar Fe. The International Mineralogical Association has chosen a hyphenated nomenclature for the axinite group, dubbing this species axinite-(Mn) (Burke, 2008).
This single crystal of manganaxinite has clove brown coloration, with scattered tiny tourmaline crystals attached to its surface. A chemical analysis by Foord et al. (1989) establishes this as manganaxinite. Nice San Diego County specimen. From the Garth Bricker (1931-2020) collection.
