Churchite-Y

Description

Churchite-Y has a hardness of 3 and a specific gravity of 3.14. It was named in 1865 by Charles H. Greville Williams in honor of Arthur Herbert Church, the first mineralogist to examine the absorption spectra of gemstones for identification purposes. It was first found in Germany, and has since been found in an additional 80 locations worldwide, but no discoveries in Colorado yet.

A great example of Yttrium as its found naturally, with 40%, Churchite is also often found with other minerals containing rare-earths, and has even been found to possibly even contain traces of many within it at times, as Cerium, Lanthanum, Neodymium, and Erbium have all been reported in some contested specimens. Churchite-Dy and Churchite-Nd have since both been discredited as mineral species, but it’s a further testament to Churchite-Y’s relation with other minerals such as Agardite-Dy and Rhabdophane-Nd and how all those elements are often intermingling…

There’s not a whole lot more that can be found online about this cool little mineral, and it doesn’t seem as though there’s a whole lot more that can be said about it, but be sure to keep your eyes out for a rock like this on your next hike and you’ll be able to identify a possible rare-earths mine nearby, or find your own natural Yttrium sample just like this!