Thortveitite

Thortveitite
Thortveitite
General
Category	Mineral
Formula (repeating unit)	(Sc,Y)2Si2O7
Identification
Crystal system	orthorhombic
Mohs scale hardness	5-6
Luster	vitreous
Streak	gray
Specific gravity	3.3-3.8

Thortveitite is a mineral consisting of scandium yttrium silicate (Sc,Y)₂Si₂O₇. It is the primary source of scandium. Occurrence is in granitic pegmatites. It was named after Olaus Thortveit, Norwegian engineer. It is greyish-green, black or grey in color.

A transparent gem quality example was found in 2004, and reported in "The Journal of Gemology", 2008 Volume 31.

See also

• List of minerals
• List of minerals named after people

References

• Webmineral
• Mindat
• Riccardo Bianchi, Tullio Pilati, Valeria Diella, Carlo Maria Gramaccioli, and Gregorio Mannucci (1988). "A re-examination of thortveitite". American Mineralogist 73: 5–6. 
• Schumann, Walter (1991). Mineralien aus aller Welt. BLV Bestimmungsbuch (2 ed.). p. 223. ISBN 3-405-14003-X.