Unknown mineral that has pseudomorph over quartz

[Matthew Low]

Need mineral that I found in china

 

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[Steve1236]

I think your specimen is all quartz, botryoidal chalcedony the microcrystalline variety of quartz to be specific is what's coating your specimen, almost reminds me of some fire agate/chalcedony specimens I collect, specimens without fire, pretty red, pinks, oranges etc not rootbeer color you need for fire, more for display, see if a piece of quartz can scratch the botryoidal part just to be sure, if it doesn't it's chalcedony, super iron out (powder) works wonders on cleaning quartz specimens if you want to clean up your specimens better.

 

[Matthew Low]

is there a possibility that it is argonite

 

[Steve1236]

Argonite is 3.5 to 4 hardness, steel knife is 6, quartz is 7 hardness, see if a steel knife can scratch it, if it can't its harder than 6 so its chalcedony, scratch test will let you know pretty quickly.

 

[Matthew Low]

yup just tested it does not scratch that means it is chalcedony do you have other suggestions on how to clean it iron out is not sold commercialy here in malaysia i was thinking of using vinegar to get rid of any impurity but just afraid toxic gass and other structural problems may occur

 

[Steve1236]

Yeah vinegar will clean it a little better, stick it in a container and leave it in the sun, hot vinegar cleans better and faster than room temperature, you could aslo use household bleach and water and same stick it out in the sun. NEVER MIX BLEACH AND VINEGAR TOGETHER THOUGH, TOXIC GAS!!! Also very important is to stick it in fresh water for atleast double the time you had it in either vinegar or bleach so a day or two out in the sun means two to four days in fresh water, I use purified water for the last day of fresh water soaking, hard water can leave a film so it turns out better in purified water. Sucks you can't get SIO, stuff works really well on quartz.

 

[Matthew Low]

Ok thx will try find some vinigar and clean it up thx for your help