Description

Remarkable orange thorite crystal, quite weathered (no visible faces left), mineral from the Muiane pegmatite in Mozambique.

Specimen from the Jean Béhier collection.

Thorite is a rare silicate of thorium and uranium.

Because thorite is highly radioactive, samples are often metamatized. It’s a state found in radioactive minerals that results from the destructive effects of its own radiation on its crystalline structure. This is probably the case here.

This post is also available in: French