Bazzite - Encyclopedia

Class : Silicates
Subclass : Cyclosilicates
Crystal System : Hexagonal
Chemistry : Be(Sc,Fe)₂Si₆O₁₈
Rarity : Rare

Bazzite is a rare variety of beryl, whose beautiful blue color is due to the presence of traces of scandium. Its name was given to it in honor of the Italian engineer Alessandro Eugenio Bazzi who discovered this mineral in Baveno on Lake Maggiore (Italy). Like its parent mineral beryl, bazzite almost always occurs as elongated hexagonal prismatic crystals, vertically striated or fluted, sometimes short or flattened, rarely terminated.

Main photo : Bazzite from Tarentaise, La Léchère, Savoie, France © Orso Martinelli

Bazzite from Tarentaise, La Léchère, Savoie, France © Vincent Bourgoin

Bazzite from the Kersy forest, Tarentaise, La Léchère, Savoie, France © Yannick Vessely

Bazzite from the Kersy forest, Tarentaise, La Léchère, Savoie, France © Jacques Valverde

Bazzite from Kersy Forest, La Lauzière Savoie, France - © P. and D. Journet

Bazzite in the World

Bazzite is a variety typical of the Swiss alpine clefts, where the most beautiful centimeter-sized crystals have been encountered: Val Travetsch and Grimsel, Fibia and Monte Prosa, in the Saint-Gothard Massif (Switzerland). Bazzite is also known in Italian Piedmont, notably in Baveno and Pizzo Cervandone, as well as in some Italian localities.

Bazzite in France

In France, bazzite crystals were discovered in 2010 in the forest of Kersy in the Massif de la Tarentaise (Savoie). It is also reported at the Gwernavalou quarry (Côtes-d'Armor).

Twinning and special crystallizations

No known twin for this mineral species.

Fakes and treatments

No fake or treatment identified for this mineral species.

Hardness : 6.5 to 7
Density : Irregular
Fracture : Irregular
Trace : White

TP : Translucent to transparent
RI : 1.622 to 1.637
Birefringence : 0.020
Optical character : Uniaxial -
Pleochroism : Strong
Fluorescence : None

Solubility : Hydrofluoric acid

Magnetism : None
Radioactivity : None

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