Product Code Database
Serandite is a mineral with formula Na(Mn2+,Ca)2Si3O8(OH). The mineral was discovered in Guinea in 1931 and named for J. M. Sérand. Serandite is generally red, brown, black or colorless. The correct name lacks an accent.Hålenius, U., Hatert, F., Pasero, M., and Mills, S.J., IMA Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification (CNMNC) Newsletter 28. Mineralogical Magazine 79(7), 1859–1864
Crystals of the mineral can be prismatic to acicular and elongated along 010, bladed, blocky, or tabular and flattened on {100}, occur as a radiating aggregate, or have massive crystal habit. Sérandite is a member of the wollastonite group and is the manganese analogue of pectolite. It is sometimes used as a gemstone.Gemstones of North America – Volume 3 – Page 417 John Sinkankas – 1959
At Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, serandite occurs in sodalite and cutting within an intrusive alkalic gabbro-syenite complex. In Point
of Rocks, New Mexico, it occurs in in phonolite. At the Tumannoe deposit in Russia, serandite occurs in a manganese rich deposit associated with and terrigenous (non-marine) which has been altered by contact metamorphism.
Serandite has been found in association with aegirine, analcime, arfvedsonite, astrophyllite, eudialyte, fluorite, leucophanite, mangan-neptunite, microcline, nepheline, sodalite, and villiaumite.
History
Serandite was discovered on Rouma Island, part of the Los Islands in Guinea. The mineral was described by À. Lacroix in the journal Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des Sciences.Lacroix, p. 189. He named it sérandite in honor of J.M. Sérand, a mineral collector who helped in the collection of the mineral.
Occurrence and distribution
Serandite has been found in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Guinea, Italy, Japan, Namibia, Norway, Russia, South Africa, and the United States. The type material is held at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
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