Rhodonite

Rhodonite from Broken Hill, N.S.W., Australia, measuring 65 × 28 × 12 mm and weighing 48 grams. A slim, flat piece of Broken Hill's best-known pink manganese mineral, on its own without the ore minerals it is often found alongside.

Rhodonite, manganese silicate, MnSiO3, crystallises in the triclinic system and typically appears as massive to coarsely crystalline material in shades from pale pink to a deeper rose, sometimes with darker veining from manganese oxide staining along fractures. At Broken Hill, it formed as part of the regional metamorphism that affected the manganese-rich sediments associated with the orebody, the same process responsible for the deposit's Bustamite, Spessartine and other manganese silicates.

A flat, single-species piece like this is a useful reference for the mineral's colour and texture in hand, without the visual competition of Galena or Fluorite that often shares the same pocket. This piece is from the David Vince Collection.