Faizievite
A very rare triclinic lithium-titanium silicate known only from the Darai-Pioz glacier moraine in Tajikistan.
Intro adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Faizievite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the silicate class, with the chemical formula Li₆K₂Na(Ca₆Na)Ti₄(Si₆O₁₈)₂(Si₁₂O₃₀)F₂.
It crystallizes in the triclinic crystal system (space group P-1).
Key properties: Mohs hardness 4–4.5; specific gravity 2.83; Vitreous. Fluoresces bright white in SW UV luster; optically biaxial.
IMA symbol Fai, IMA status: approved, named in 2006.
Found in a quartz-pectolite boulder in the moraine of a glacier eroding an alkaline massif.
It is found associated with Baratovite, fluorite, quartz, pectolite, aegirine, luorite, polylithionite, neptunite, hyalotekite, sokolovaite, senkevichite, Ti-rich mica.
The mineral was named to honor Faiziev Abdulkhak Radzhabovitch (b 1938), professor and member-correspondent of the Academy of Sciences, Republic of Tajikistan.