Los Angeles County California, USA — Photo: Pacific Museum of Earth from Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0
Priceite
A white calcium borate mined in small amounts at Chetco, Oregon as early as 1862.
Intro adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Priceite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the borate class, with the chemical formula Ca₂B₅O₇(OH)₅·H₂O.
It crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system (space group P2_1/c).
Key properties: Mohs hardness 3–3.5; specific gravity 2.42; typically white or colorless; white streak; Porcelaneous to earthy luster; optically biaxial.
IMA symbol Pce, grandfathered status — known before the IMA’s founding, named in 1873.
Deposited from hot spring and solfataric deposits, also a component of borate-enriched evaporites; may be derived from colemanite.
It is found associated with Colemanite, ulexite, gypsum, aragonite, calcite.
The mineral was named to honor Thomas Price (1837–?), metallurgist, San Francisco, California, USA, who provided the first chemical analyses of the species.
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