Charoite

Charoite is beautiful, hard, durable, easy to handle, called lilac stone of Yakutia. The color of charoite is compared with an amethyst, according to silk gloss with malachite. Like the blue-fiolet jets of the cold Chara, on the shore of which his deposit was discovered in 1973, they are poured into stone.

Charoite is beautiful, hard, durable, easy to handle, called lilac stone of Yakutia

Fig.1. Charoite and products from it.

The hardness of the mineral is on the Mohs scale 5-5,5; The density is 2,5-2,6 g/cm3. Contains impurities of barium, strontium, rare earth elements. Lilac coloration is usually attributed to impurities of manganese. For the first time, clumps of violet minerals were found by the geologist VG Ditmar in 1948, during the geological survey, and conditionally named them a cummingtonite schist.

The Yakut Charoite deposit is the only one in the world. In the world not only industrial deposits of such breeds have been found, but deposits containing single grains of charoite have not been found. The name of the new mineral was approved in 1977. Studies of specialists have shown that charoite is an unknown to science compound of sodium, potassium and calcium salts is of jewelery value and has many valuable properties. Deposited charoite, named after the stormy taiga river, form dense vast masses. Its fine-fiber aggregates have a silky iridescent luster, a persistent color from pale to dark violet tones, often with star inclusions of copper-yellow tinaxite and dark-green aegirine. Charoite is not very strong, it should be protected from blows. Products from charoite can be washed in warm water.

Charoite is easy to polish and looks good in jewelry, so it is widely used in the manufacture of inserts in rings, beads and other inexpensive jewelry. Nevertheless, charoite has not won worldwide popularity. Widespread distribution of charoite is hindered by the limit set by the Government of the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia for the extraction of stone in the amount of 100 tons per year - this is a compulsory measure that protects against the rapid drying out of the deposit. That is why charoite grows in price from year to year and is becoming increasingly rare.

Natural decorative qualities, strength and ease of processing and polishing allow the use of mineral charoite in any kind of jewelry. There are more than 100 varieties of gem, different in pattern and color. Actively used charoite and to create objects of decor - caskets, vases, watches, figurines, candelabra.

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