Search Mineralpedia – A Mineral Photo Database and Identification Guide

Named for mineralogist and crystallographer at the University of Vienne, Dr. Herta S. Effenberger. A rare mineral that can be found only at the type locality at the Wessels mine in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. It is found with native copper, calcite, quartz, and clinozoisite within veinlets of pectolite that are embedded in braunite ore. Effenbergerite appears as blue plates.

Ref. Minerals and their Localities, Bernard, J.H. and Hyršl, J. (2004)

IMA/CNMNC List of Mineral Names (2009) and Mineralogical Magazine 58 (1994) 663

Named for Bud Ehrle after he discovered it in a drum of Beryl to be processed. Found in the outer-intrmediate zone of the pegmatite, now under water. Occurs as vitreous white to colorless, thick tabular to thin platy crystals to 2mm. Two original specimens were found 1982(?) and none have been found since. Holotype at National Museum in Ottawa and the co-type #MOG2958 (photo) below is at the SD School of Mines, Museum of Geology. Can. Mineralogist V.23, pp. 507-510 (1985) indicates that the Ehrleite of specimen 2958 is on Beryl. It is not however, the matrix is actually Quartz which has a thin veneer of rusty orange apatite.

See also Handbook of Mineralogy, Anthony et al (1995) and MSA at http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/ehrleite.pdf

A member of the Tourmaline Group, Elbaite is named for the type locality at Fonte del Prete on Elba Island in Tuscany, Italy. Relatively common, Elbaite can be found of exceptional quality at its type locality, and in localities in Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, the United States, and Brazil, among many other localities. It occurs in granite, granite pegmatite, metamorphic rocks, high-temperature hydrothermal veins, and as a detrital mineral in sediments. Elbaite is pyroelectric, generates a charge in response to heat, and piezoelectric, generates a charge in response to pressure.

Ref. Handbook of Mineralogy, Anthony et al (1995) and MSA at http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/elbaite.pdf