Rhodochrosite is a mineral that resembles a blossom of a rose due to its colour and texture coating. The multilayered mineral is undoubtedly as beautiful as malachite or charoite.
Because of its physical properties, this semi-precious stone is not suitable for gem-cutting. For this same reason, jewelry made of this mineral is quite a rare occurrence, while the cost of crystal druses of rhodochrosite may sometimes exceed the price of gold. At the same time, the mineral is actively used in manufacturing as an ore base in production of alloy additives to steel.
In nature, this stone occurs in the forms of squamous crystal-jams, spherolithes, encrustations and crystals. Thanks to the presence of bivalent manganese, this stone has a bright crimson colour. If there is more calcium in the composition of a mineral, then the colour shade of this mineral is much lighter than usual. Iron impurities, on the other hand, affect the colour of a stone in a way that it turns either brownish or reddish.
The oldest deposit of rhodochrosite in the world is located in Argentina, not far from San Luis. There are also deposits of this mineral in the USA and Mongolia. In Russia, the semi-precious stone may be found in the South Caucasus, Transbaikalia and the Northern Urals.
In the Mining Museum, the XIX century samples of rhodochrosite are presented, which are taken from the personal collection of Duke N. M. Leihtenbergsky.
Rhodochrosite with stilbite. Madan, Bulgaria
Rhodochrosite. Pseudomorph after a Cardium shell. Kerchenskoye deposit, the Ukraine
Rhodochrosite on Quartz. Cavnic, Romania. From the collection of Duke N.M.Leihtenbergsky, 1893
