Navajoite Locality: Monument No. 2 Mine, Monument No. 2 channel, Monument Valley , Navajo Indian Reservation , Apache County , Arizona , USA ( Locality at mindat.org ) Size: small cabinet, 7.2 x 6.4 x 4.0 cm Navajoite The patina on the foliated back side of this specimen is similar to that of copper. The front, or display side contains an area of minute, sparkling, silver colored, metallic, vanadium oxide, crystals. They are platy or lameller. The specimen is accompanied by a 1951 label belonging to Otto Ray and a later label out of the collection of Les Presmyk. Navajoite is a very rare hydrated vanadium oxide, and this is an exceedingly rich specimen from teh type locality! — Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0
Navajoite
Navajoite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the oxides & hydroxide class, with the chemical formula (V⁵⁺,Fe³⁺)₁₀O₂₄·12H₂O.
It crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system. It is a member of the Ajoite structural group.
Key properties: Mohs hardness 2; specific gravity 2.56; Brown streak; Adamantine to silky luster; optically biaxial.
IMA symbol Nvj, grandfathered status — known before the IMA’s founding, named in 1954.
Found in the highly oxidized portion of a Colorado Plateau-type U–V deposit, in a stream channel filled with conglomeratic and silty sandstone; thought to be an oxidation product of corvusite.
It is found associated with Corvusite, tyuyamunite, rauvite, hewettite, steigerite, “limonite”.
The name refers to the Navajo Indians, on whose reservation the mineral was first found.