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Parafransoletite

Named after the Greek word para, meaning “near”, and for being a dimorph of fransoletite. Parafransoletite can be found only at its type locality here in the Black Hills at the Tip Top mine in South Dakota, USA. It occurs as a “secondary hydrothermal mineral on fracture surfaces in beryl in a complex granite pegmatite.”Parafransoletite can be found in association with beryl, mitridatite, whitlockite, hurlbutite, roscherite, montgomeryite, englishite, and robertsite.
Ref. Handbook of Mineralogy, Anthony et al (1995) and MSA at http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/parafransoletite.pdf
- Formula
- Ca3Be2(PO4)2(PO3OH)2·4H2O
- Crystal System
- Triclinic
- Crystal Habit
- Spear Head, Wheat Sheaf, Radial
- Cleavage
- None, None, None
- Luster
- Vitreous - Silky
- Color
- colorless, white
- Streak
- white
- Class
- Triclinic - Pinacoidal
- Hardness
- 2.5
- WebMineral
- View Parafransoletite
- Mindat
- View Parafransoletite
Parafransoletite from Tip Top mine, Custer Co., South Dakota, United States

- Special Info
- Type and Only Locality as of 2017
This is indeed one of the richest Parafransoletites around. The specimen is overdosed in little white bladed, elongated Parafransoletite crystals with blunt terminations. The terminations are inclined on one side and some are kind of hackly. Many of the crystals are colorless at the center becoming white at the terminations. Most of the crystals are singles, but there are good examples of groups of two or three maybe four or five in divergent habits. The crystals measure about 0.3-0.4mm. The bright red groups are Montgomeryite, but most of the dark red to purplish red is Roscherite.