Pale purple single crystal of the extremely rare mineral gainesite from the type and only known locality worldwide: Nevel Quarry, Newry, Oxford County, Maine, United States of America. Ex Vandenbroucke Museum collection specimen, from Waregem, Belgium. — Photo: David Hospital · CC BY-SA 4.0
Gainesite
Gainesite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the phosphate class, with the chemical formula Na₂(Be,Li)Zr₂(PO₄)₄·1.5H₂O.
It crystallizes in the tetragonal crystal system (space group I4_1/amd).
Key properties: Mohs hardness 4; specific gravity 2.94; Vitreous luster; optically uniaxial.
IMA symbol Gns, IMA status: approved, named in 1978.
Found as a very rare accessory mineral in a granite pegmatite.
It is found associated with Roscherite, eosphorite, albite.
The mineral was named to honor Dr. Richard Venable Gaines (1917–1999), American mineralogist, economic geologist, and mineral collector, of Earlysville, Virginia, USA.