Chiolite: Greenland (1.1)
Chiolite has nothing much to offer in the way of a gem. It is very soft, has perfect cleavage, has no appealing colors, and is usually small and nondescript. However, it has joined the ranks of minerals that have been cut by facetors who must try their hand at everything clean enough to cut. There may be less than one or two dozen cut stones in existence. Chiolite exists solely as a curiosity in the gem world.
Chiolite Value
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Chiolite Information
| Data | Value |
| Name | Chiolite |
| Crystallography | Tetragonal; minute dipyramidal crystals, commonly in masses. |
| Colors | Colorless, white. |
| Luster | Vitreous. |
| Hardness | 3.5-4 |
| Density | 2.998 |
| Birefringence | 0.007 |
| Cleavage | Perfect 1 direction |
| Stone Sizes | Always tiny, 1-2 carat range, if clean. Large, clean fragments do not exist for cutting. The mineral itself is quite rare. |
| Luminescence | None. |
| Spectral | Not diagnostic |
| Formula | Na5Al3F14 |
| Pleochroism | None |
Optics: o = 1.349; e = 1.342.
Uniaxial ( – ).
Occurrence: Ivigtut, Greenland: associated with cryolite.
Miask, Urals, USSR: in a cryolite pegmatite
Comments: Chiolite has nothing much to offer in the way of a gem. It is very soft, has perfect cleavage, has no appealing colors, and is usually small and nondescript. However, it has joined the ranks of minerals that have been cut by facetors who must try their hand at everything clean enough to cut. There may be less than one or two dozen cut stones in existence. Chiolite exists solely as a curiosity in the gem world.
Name: From the Greek words for snow and stone because in its white appearance it is similar to cryolite, whose name means ice-stone.
