Baddeleyite
Current inventory:  2 gems
 

  
Baddeleyite is named for Joseph Baddeley, who first called attention to the Sri Lankan material.

Discovered in 1892;   IMA status: Valid (pre-IMA; Grandfathered)

Chemistry

Chemical Formula:

ZrO₂

Zirconium Oxide

Molecular Weight:

123.22 gm

Composition:

Zirconium

74.03 %

Zr

100.00 %

ZrO₂

Oxygen

25.97 %

O

100.00 %

100.00 %

= TOTAL OXIDE

Classification

Mineral Classification:

Oxides

Strunz 8th Ed. ID:

4/D.31-10

Nickel-Strunz 10th Ed. ID:

4.DE.35

4 : OXIDES (Hydroxides, V[5,6] vanadates, arsenites, antimonites, bismuthites, sulfites, selenites, tellurites, iodates)
D : Metal: Oxygen = 1:2 and similar
E : With medium-sized cations; with various polyhedra

Related to:

n/a

Varieties:

Caldasite

Synonyms:

Baddeleyite (of Fletcher), Brazilite (of Hussak), Reitingerite

Crystal Data

Crystallography:

Monoclinic - Prismatic

Crystal Habit:

Crystals commonly tabular and somewhat elongated, or short to long prismatic, to 6 cm; rarely equant; prism faces striated; also botryoidal masses with radially fibrous structure and concentric banding.

Twinning:

None

Physical Properties

Cleavage:

Distinct on {001}

Fracture:

Conchoidal

Tenacity:

Brittle

Moh's Hardness:

6.5

Density:

5.40 - 6.02 (g/cm³)

Luminescence:

Blue-green Cathodoluminescence

Radioactivity:

Not Radioactive

Optical Properties

Color:

Colorless to Yellow, Green, Greenish or Reddish Brown, Brown, iron-Black; Colorless to Brown in transmitted light.

Transparency:

Transparent; in dark-colored specimens, only in thin fragments.

Luster:

Adamantine, Greasy to Vitreous; nearly Submetallic in black crystals

Refractive Index:

2.13 - 2.20  Biaxial ( - )

Birefringence:

0.0700

Dispersion:

Strong; r > v

Pleochroism:

X = yellow, reddish brown, oil-green; Y = oil-green, reddish brown; Z = brown, light brown.

Occurances

Geological Setting:

An accessory mineral in carbonatites and kimberlites; in syenites, diabases, gabbros, anorthosites; detrital in gem gravels; also in lunar basalt, tektites and meteorites.

Common Associations:

Ilmenite, Zirkelite, Apatite, Magnetite, Perovskite (Jacupiranga mine, Brazil);
Fluorite, Nepheline, Pyrochlore, Allanite (Monte Somma, Italy).

Common Impurities:

Ca, Fe, Hf, Si, Ti

Type Locality:

Kollonnagam, Rakwana, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka

Year Discovered:

1892

View mineral photos:

Baddeleyite Mineral Photos and Locations

More Information

Mindat.org
Webmineral.com

Baddeleyite is a very rare Ziconium Oxide mineral and is rarely seen as a faceted gem. It is a very dense mineral and has a very high refractive index, although it is usually opaque brownish black to black.

Although the chemistry of Baddeleyite is identical to the popular diamond simulant cubic zirconia (CZ), it doesn't look anything like it. CZ is a bright, transparent, highly refractive material which crystallizes in the cubic system while Baddeleyite is opaque or nearly opaque, usually black and crystallizes in the monoclinic system.

The main sources of Baddeleyite are Rakwana and Balangoda, Sri Lanka. From Monte Somma, Campania, Italy. In Russia, large crystals from the Kovdor massif, and in the Gulinskii massif, the Vuoriyarvi carbonatite complex, and the Imandrovsky layered intrusion, Kola Peninsula; in the Lukkulaisvaara layered intrusion, Karelia. At the Jacupiranga mine, São Paulo, and at Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil. From Bozeman, Gallatin County, Montana, USA. In the Bingo deposit, Kivu Province, Congo (Zaire). From Catanda, Angola. At Benfontein, and in large crystals from Phalaborwa, Transvaal, South Africa. Other minor occurrences are known.
 

  
Baddeleyite gems for sale: