Detailed information
Species
Ettringite, Quartz
Dimensions
32 x 40 x 31
mm
Weight
24 g
Locality
N'Chwaning Mines Kuruman, Kalahari Mn. Field N. Cape Province, South Africa
Condition
No recorded repairs
The unusual calcium aluminium sulphate hydroxide hydrate mineral Ettringite was originally described from two localities in Germany as small colourless crystals but during the 1980s a fantastic new set of finds at the N'Chwaning mines in the Kalahari Manganese Field, N. Cape Province, South Africa produced exceptionally large, and colourful sulphur-yellow prismatic crystals. This miniature specimen from the N'Chwaning mines comes from the Hettrich Collection in Germany and features clusters of rich deep yellow-coloured stocky prismatic Ettringite crystals displaying sloping shallow pyramidal terminations, but unusually with the sloping termination set-back slightly inside the edges of the prism sides. Sat on a layer of finely crystallized Quartz, the largest Ettringite crystal is 1.1 cm in length but is missing one side of its termination. The smaller, perfectly terminated crystals reach up to 5 mm in length and some have extremely glassy terminations.