Titanite (variety chromium-bearing titanite) on Chromite with Clinochlore and Calcite - Saranovskii Mine, Russia - 11 x 6 x 9.5 cm / main crystal: 5.8 cm.

Mineral: Titanite (variety chromium-bearing titanite) on Chromite with Clinochlore and Calcite
Locality: Saranovskii Mine, Saranovskaya (Sarany), Gornozavodskii, Perm Krai, Ural, Russia
Dimensions: 11 x 6 x 9.5 cm / main crystal: 5.8 cm.

Description: Osnovnoye Saranovskoye (Cr) mestorozhdeniye, Gorno-zavodskoy rayon, Permskiy kray, Sredniy Ural, Russia Mass: 598 g MIM number: 2287 This amazing ‘chromian’ titanite (sphene), is a large complex crystal, twinned with that slight re-entrant angle, with beautiful ‘feathering’ growth features on some faces and a spectacular deeply vivid emerald green appearing slightly ‘patchy’ in parts, often typical of some high Cr bearing minerals. The crystal sits on a chromite matrix coated with a bed of pale greyish purple ‘clinochlore’ (partly coated with calcite which has not been etched out), which might also be partly amesite. According to Ludmila Cheshko, Publisher - "Mineralogical Almanac" (Lomonosov Moscow State University) it is the largest Cr-Titanite ever found in Russia. Photographer: mim museum; Publication: "Saranovskoe Deposit, Mineralogical Almanac, Vol. 21, Issue 2, 2016" Ex collection: Jim & Gail Spann (USA)