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Formula: BeO
Simple oxide, beryllium-bearing mineral
Crystal System: Hexagonal
Specific gravity: 3.017 measured, 3.044 calculated
Hardness: 9
Streak: White
Colour: White to creamy white
Common impurities: Al,B,Ba,Ca,Fe,Mg,Si
Environments:
Metamorphic environments
Hydrothermal environments
Bromellite occurs in hydrothermal calcite veins and veinlets in
skarn
(Mindat).
Localities
At Langesundsfjord, Norway, bromellite occurs in vugs in natrolite, hydrothermally
altered from nepheline, in syenite
pegmatite associated with
natrolite, diaspore and
chamosite
(HOM).
Near Ekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains, Russia, bromellite has been found in an emerald mine associated with
phenakite
(Dana).
At the type locality, Långban Sweden, bromellite occurs in hydrothermal calcite
veins in a calcite-hematite
skarn associated with swedenborgite,
richterite and biotite variety
manganophyllite
(Dana, Mindat, HOM)
Bromellite has been reported in skarn south of Sierra Blanca,
Hudspeth County, Texas, USA
(Dana).
Alteration
bromellite and H2O to
behoite
BeO + H2O to Be(OH)2
Decreasing temperature favours the forward reaction, which occurs in the 200oC range
(AM 71.277-300).
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