Pringleite

pringleite

ruitenbergite

hilgardite

boron

Images

Formula: Ca9B26O34(OH)24Cl4.13H2O
Hydrated borate, triclinic paramorph of monoclinic ruitenbergite
Crystal System: Triclinic
Specific gravity: 2.22 measured, 2.11 calculated
Hardness: 3 to 4
Streak: White
Colour: Colourless, very pale yellow, orangish
Luminescence: Not fluorescent under UV
Solubility:
Common impurities:
Environments

Evaporite deposits

Localities

At the type locality, the Potash Corporation of the Saskatchewan Mine, Penobsquis, Cardwell Parish, Kings county, New Brunswick, Canada, most of the borate minerals reported occur in the Middle Halite member of the evaporite sequence, and include boracite, colemanite, danburite, hilgardite, howlite, hydroboracite, priceite, szaibelyite, ulexite, veatchite and volkovskite.
Pringleite, megascopically visible as brightly reflecting cleaved surfaces, and ruitenbergite are minor constituents in the holotype hand specimen, which is composed principally of halite and hilgardite-1A, with minor sylvite and traces of anhydrite, quartz and clays.
In the hand specimen, pringleite has been observed as colourless to orange, platy, subhedral to anhedral, brightly reflecting cleaved aggregates up to 4 mm in size, in and around rosettes of white opaque hilgardite-1A, and also associated with dull orange massive halite. The cleavage planes of pringleite are, in tum, the host for numerous small inclusions of hilgardite-14. Individual crystals of pringleite are up to 2 mm in size, and platy to prismatic (CM 31.4.795-800).

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