Location: Khaidarkan Sb-Hg deposit, Batken Region, Kyrgyzstan

Size: 2.15 x 1.45 x 1.10 inches

Back in the mid 1990s there was a small production of these interesting aragonites from the Khaidarkan Mine (sometimes mistakenly labeled as coming from Kadamzhay). This piece is part of that lot. It does phosphoresce a white in both Short and long wave.

Aragonite (CaCO3) is a carbonate mineral, one of the two common crystal forms of calcium carbonate. The other well-known form is Calcite which it is sometimes confused with. It may be distinguished from calcite by its greater hardness (Aragonite is 3.5 to 4 and Calcite has a hardness of only 3) as well as its specific gravity which is heavier than calcite. Aragonite is found in deposits formed at low temperatures near the surface of the Earth, sometimes in caves as stalactites. It is thought that with geologic time it inverts to calcite even under normal conditions. Don’t worry we are not talking about in our lifetime.