Good day dear Hive community, first of all I would like to wish you a pleasant day and hope you are all doing well and you were able to have one or the other positive experience! In this post, I would like to bring a mineral a little closer and hope you can learn something new.
You can see here two specimens of the mineral woolastonite which also belongs to the mineral class of germanates as well as silicate and consists mainly of calcium silicate. The mineral was named in the 19th century by the English scholar William Hyde Wollaston (1760 - 1828) but even before it has often been mentioned in old writings under different names. Wollastonite is a metamorphic rock that forms under the influence of high temperatures from calcium carbonate or quartz and it is considered extremely resistant to heat and is often used for the production of refractory materials or ceramics. It was also very popular for the production of decorative articles and was also used as an alternative for asbestos and it is also used as a material in plastic production and since wollastonite turns into calcium carbonate with the help of carbon dioxide over time, it is also more biodegradable. As jewelry, it is processed less often and the most important countries for mining to meet the high industrial demand are China, Mexico, USA and India. Wollastonite is also interesting in collector's circles and due to the different colors such as gray, green, brown or pink of great interest and the different colors can be attributed to admixtures with other minerals.
Many thanks for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about minerals! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens!
