Bertrandite?

Steve1236

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So some of these crystal formations are still puzzling to me, they are too hard to be calcite or gypsum and to different from quartz crystals so I went back on mindat and started checking claims and mines near where I am at, just two miles maybe less north of me and actually the same mountain range when you look from satellite there's a beryllium occurrence, this is the list of minerals from that claim and some pics of bertrandite with quartz and a couple shots of mine, any opinions would be much appreciated.
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Moesia

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They look from my perspective like quartz crystals. When they are transparent like that or look cracked it is indicative that they were formed under somewhat deeper conditions and cooled from higher temperatures than what is normally encountered. It is not uncommon to find in such area beryl or tourmaline crystals. Garnets are more common though.
 

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Steve1236

Steve1236

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I had to ask, it commonly occurs with quartz, if you start walking 10 15 minutes north of where I am at it is a verified found mineral and some of my crystals resemble bertrandite crystals I've seen online, I agree I see mostly quartz crystals but here and there some of the crystals baffle me, I see thin tabular crystals mixed in with the quartz crystals like some bertrandite and quartz specimens I've seen online, my gut says it's not just quartz but your more experienced than I Moesia and thank you for a reply :). Heres two photos of bertrandite and quartz specimens, I see these thin tabular crystals in mine as well, I'll look at some more of my specimens and see if I can find a better example. Screenshot_20200628-050601_Chrome.jpg Screenshot_20200628-050718_Chrome.jpg
 

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Steve1236

Steve1236

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Its already to hot in the sun outback lol but heres a couple samples I found with the thin tabular and some other shapes that sort of reminds me of bertrandite photos on mindat, it's probably most likely quartz but it would be worse not to ask ya know, just incase..
 

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Moesia

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It is very common for quartz crystals to radiate out of a single point. And some of your pictures show, at least from my perspective, that those crystals have a hexagonal habit, whereas bertrandite is a tabular mineral. I cannot confirm that it is the case with all the pictures you posted and you should be in a better position to judge that. Also bertrandite is normally a very small mineral maybe a fraction of a mm, and that is not something you would notice from looking at mindat photos.

Quartz is an extremely common mineral it occurs with just about anything so it does not help with the id, neither does the fact that both minerals have the same hardness. In any case, it is not easy to id and the best way to have some direction is to look at the shape. The only way to be sure of the mineral id would be for you to take it to some SEM lab and have them tell you the composition of the mineral.

Anyway, what do you hope to achieve? Are you searching for beryls?
 

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Steve1236

Steve1236

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Correct identification of the crystals was the only thing I'm trying to achieve, stuff is just weird, I found stuff that matches, something called honeycomb quartz but there's a lot of other odd shapes, thin flat tabular crystals, some that form a v shape, also some look like syringes ,perfect crystal with a hole down the middle, anyway thanks for helping, boredom mixed with a little OCD I guess got the best of me lol. Thanks again Moesia :).
 

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DDancer

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You've got some crazy crystals Steve :) I've said it before and I'll say it again, Quartz comes in many varieties. Its probably one of the most diverse minerals in its morphology. Only thing I can suggest is that you look into its associations with other minerals and crystals. Thats a big list but it tends to narrow down based on the geography your in. Small crystals in large masses are usually more diverse in their structures than large crystals. But who knows? Your finding stuff that has a very mixed up grab bag of materials.
 

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