Tellurite

Description

An interesting Tellurite (Te,O) specimen available for you to bring home.

Tellurite is rare, and this comes to you from Moctezuma, Mexico.

All Wikipedia has on Tellurite is that “it occurs as prismatic to acicular transparent yellow to white orthorhombic crystals… in the oxidation zone of mineral deposits in association with native tellurium, emmonsite and other tellurium minerals.” Its name comes from its Tellurium content, which, Tellus, is “the Latin name for the planet Earth. It was first described in 1842 because of an occurrence in Faţa Băii, Zlatna, Alba County, Romania.”

Hardness: 2
SG: 5.88 – 5.92

According to Mindat, it’s “White to yellow, bright yellow to orange-yellow; nearly colourless in transmitted light” and found on 4 Continents, in 16 Countries, 6 states, in 68 localities, and in Boulder, Gunnison, Hinsdale, San Juan, and Teller Counties within Colorado.

While telluride minerals were never found near Telluride, Colorado, it was renamed from Columbia in 1878 to avoid confusion with the town in California with the same name in the hopes tellurides may be found nearby after other discoveries in the state, but the area’s mines for some years provided zinc, lead, copper, silver, and other gold ores.

Tellurium is one of the few metals you can find mixed with Gold. It’s as rare as Platinum and while mildly toxic, it’s critical to the future of technology. It’s far more common in the Universe than it is on Earth, as Earth lost it during its formation.