FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Joan R.]

Jordi wrote recently a text in the Spanish Forum related with a Roselite -> Roselite-beta that I decided to translate to English language to be published. Here you have the note:

Some time ago I proposed on my website an alleged Moroccan Roselite of very intense color. The specimen found a new home very soon. Georges Favreau was kind enough to send me an e-mail saying me that in his opinion it wasn’t a simple Roselite specimen. He related on their crystal form and color intensity. I told him that I was going to send the specimen for a more precise analysis and determination to be sure whether it was Roselite or, as he kindly suggested, it could be a Roselite-beta or even Talmessite. Yesterday I received, from Dr Joan Viñals, the specimen XRD and EDS analysis. Yes, Georges was on the right way: it is more than a Roselite, it is a nice Roselite-beta!

As a result of this fact, I would like to expose to the forum contributors some considerations.

On the one hand, I would like to thank George his interest. We know now precisely what it is. On the other hand, I would like to congratulate Javier Taguas, the lucky present owner of this nice specimen of Roselite-beta, not Roselite.
The third consideration I would like to discuss is about something that already has been discussed earlier in this forum, but I think there’s a lot to be done in this way. We have seen in this case that a mineral presumed common, now it is quite rare than we expected before. And the opposite? How many minerals reportedly rare with incorrect names are displayed in private collections, Internet websites, and what is worse, Museums, that are really common species, problem due to a poor assessment, ignorance, and/or absence of a precise analysis?

I can say that this confusion frequently happens and only a well-made analysis could concrete the specimen we have in our hands. However, as it is not possible to analyze all the minerals collected (so there are not enough laboratories in the world to do that) often have to base our decision on the appearance and the mine from which specimens are come from. This determination way could lead errors.

In this way, I believe that the powerful new tools and options that Internet is creating with a new global universal information (documents, articles, pictures...) are extremely helpful. This and the presence of specialized contributors, like Georges Favreau, assisting and participating in forums like this, maybe could be one good solution to help to have right mineral’s names?

Jordi