Rose Muscovite?

Rhj1991

Greenie
Apr 27, 2021
14
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Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
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Is this rose muscovite?
 

No it isn't. It looks like an ordinary mica schist colored by common impurities. Probably iron provides the reddish color you see.

Rose Muscovite is an industry term for mica that has been tinged with colors associated with the element manganese. It's not a recognized mineral in itself but more of a marketing term. The colors produced by manganese range from light pink to intense red. Here is a good example of a manganese colored muscovite or "rose muscovite".

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There are many colored micas. Most have no particular value but pretty specimens do have a market of sorts. When mica is associated with manganese the color is due to the manganese being a chromophore. Most colored mica is due to other mineral impurities that do not form chromophores. In other words the color you see in your sample comes from other minerals that would show the same color even if they were not found in a mica deposit.
 

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