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Priceite mineral

Priceite is the Ca2B5O7(OH)5(H2O) mineral species in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with grandfathered status G and original- description year 1873, not an approval number. Pandermite is a historical name for the same species. It is distinct from colemanite, gowerite, elemental boron and the borates commodity. Wallwork et al. determined a monoclinic P21/c structure from synchrotron powder diffraction of natural Sultancayir material, South Australian Museum specimen G3769. The model has four tetrahedral and one triangular boron sites per formula unit; boron positions were assigned geometrically and not refined, and hydrogen positions were not located. Hydroxyl and water assignments were supported by bond-valence analysis. The paper's abstract and body disagree on the borate-chain direction, so no direction is selected here. A separate Fuka, Japan, study reports eight electron-probe analyses averaging 49.95 wt% B2O3 and 32.35 wt% CaO. Its 17.56 wt% H2O was calculated by difference because pure material was insufficient for direct determination; its 2.486 g/cm3 density was calculated, not measured. The proposed natural alteration of shimazakiite and its inferred temperature range are geological interpretations, not a controlled synthesis experiment. No criticality, microbial mechanism or industrial extraction performance is inferred from these observations.

Sources & References

  1. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC, The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026: PDF page 177, Priceite row; page 1, status and year definitions. Official current list checked on 16 October 2026.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-16)
  2. wallwork2002: Wallwork, Pring, Taylor and Hunter (2002), The structure of priceite, a basic hydrated calcium borate, by ab initio powder-diffraction methods, The Canadian Mineralogist 40, 1199-1206, DOI 10.2113/gscanmin.40.4.1199. Complete eight-page published article: synonym and specimen p. 1200; refinement pp. 1201-1202; Tables 1-4 and Figures 1-4. Rwp 0.042 and Rp 0.030 describe the powder refinement. Abstract p. 1199 says borate chains extend along [100], whereas p. 1202 says [001]; this internal discrepancy remains unresolved.
    https://www.rruff.net/doclib/cm/vol40/CM40_1199.pdf (accessed 2026-10-16)
  3. kobayashi2017: Kobayashi, Ando, Tanabe, Kishi and Kusachi (2017), Priceite from the Fuka mine, Okayama Prefecture, Japan, Journal of Mineralogical and Petrological Sciences 112, 20-24, DOI 10.2465/jmps.160902. Complete five-page published original: occurrence and Figures 1-2 p. 21, powder data Table 1 p. 22, chemistry/methods and Table 2 p. 23. Table 2 distinguishes measured oxide means from water calculated by difference. The p. 23 formation-temperature discussion cites separate synthesis studies and does not directly measure the natural formation temperature or an experimental transformation rate.
    https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jmps/112/1/112_160902/_pdf (accessed 2026-10-16)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-16T05:11:38.298184Z codex (GPT-6; codex) CREATE Created a distinct priceite species record with synonym resolution, natural powder structure and separate Fuka chemistry, preserving inferred water and the published chain-direction discrepancy.

Record source: data/records/priceite.yaml