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Download hereGENERAL DESCRIPTION
Pezzottaïte is a cesium, beryllium and lithium aluminosilicate, which is formed in granitic pegmatites.
It is a recently "discovered" mineral species (2002). It was named before "raspberry beryl" or cesian beryl, because the first analyses described pezzottaïte as a cesium-rich beryl. With more precise analyses, it was accepted as a new mineral species.
The crystals are pink in colour, with a pseudo-hexagonal shape. So far, there is only one occurrence : the Sakalavana pegmatite in the area d'Ambatovita area (Madagascar). This deposit was very quickly exhausted. Approximately, a dozen kilogrammes of crystals were extracted. Pezzottaite is cut when gemmy enough.
The types are kept at the Smithsonian Institution (National Museum of Natural History) in Washington (USA), at the Canadian Museum of Nature (Ottawa, Canada), at the Royal Ontario Museum of Toronto (Canada) and in the Naturhistorisches Museum der Burgergemeindede Bern (Switzerland).
The type was described in 2002 on the basis of samples from, first, the Sakavalana mine, Ambatovita, area of Mandrosonoro, department d' Ambatofinandrahana and, second, from the Ampandramaika-Malakialina pegmatites, in Amoron'i, Mania area, Fianarantsoa province (both in Madagascar).
HISTORY : Species dedicated to Federico Pezzotta (1965-), italian mineralogist and curator of the mineral collection of the Museum of Natural History in Milan
Species first described in 2003 by Brendan Laurs et al.
Type-locality : Mine of Sakavalana, Ambatovita, Fianarantsoa, Madagascar
CHEMICAL FORMULA : Cs(Be2Li) Al2Si6O18
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Rhomboedric
COLOR : Raspberry red to pink
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucent
LUSTER : Vitreous
STREAK : Colorless to white
MORPHOLOGIE : Tabular, hexagonal and flat crystals
HARDNESS : 8
CHEMICAL CLASS: 3,06
DENSITY : VIII - Silicates
GROUP : Beryl
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : --
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 9.CJ.05
