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Veatchite mineral

Veatchite is the strontium borate mineral species with ideal formula Sr2B11O16(OH)5·H2O in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list, with grandfathered status G and original-description year 1938. That year is not a sequential approval identifier. Its three named polytypes are veatchite-1A, veatchite-1M and veatchite-2M, historically called veatchite-A, p-veatchite and veatchite, respectively. These are not three separate species owners. Veatchite is distinct from elemental strontium or boron, the borates commodity, and the Ca-Sr-ordered species calcioveatchite, SrCaB11O16(OH)5·H2O. Grice and Pring (2012) determined the structures of separate natural specimens using single-crystal X-ray diffraction: NMNH 145911 from Emet, Turkey, for triclinic 1A with space group P-1; NMNH 113264 from Reyershausen, Germany, for monoclinic 1M with P21; and RG701/1 from Sussex, New Brunswick, for monoclinic 2M with Cc. The last specimen replaced the preserved California type crystal and must not be attributed to that type locality. Borate layers and their stacking distinguish the polytypes; the authors caution that their powder patterns alone do not satisfactorily distinguish them. Hydrogen positions were located by difference Fourier maps and refined, but no new chemical analyses were performed on the two type specimens. The paper's 2M Sr/Ca refinement has a slightly Ca-dominant smaller cation site and is explicitly discussed as potentially a new species; it is not a pure Sr end-member measurement. Pekov et al. (2024) subsequently establish the distinct calcioveatchite species and emphasize site occupancy in the boundary with veatchite. They do not directly reanalyse the 2012 RG701/1 crystal, so its exact modern species assignment remains a specimen-level qualification here. The 2012 temperature/pressure associations are geological interpretations with unknown precise parameters, not controlled polytype-transition experiments. Natural mineral characterization and geological occurrence do not establish microbial activity, boron recovery, industrial deployment or a jurisdiction-specific criticality designation.

Sources & References

  1. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC, The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026: PDF page 228, Veatchite row; page 35, distinct Calcioveatchite row; page 1, status/year definitions. Fresh official PDF acquired and relevant rows visually checked on 15 October 2026.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-15)
  2. grice2012: Grice JD and Pring A (2012), Veatchite: Structural relationships of the three polytypes, American Mineralogist 97, 489-495, DOI 10.2138/am.2012.3889. Complete seven-page publisher original acquired from RRUFF. Table 1 and Material studied p. 489; diffraction methods p. 490; site occupancies and boundary discussion Table 2c and p. 491; structures Figures 1-4; geological interpretation p. 494. Original separate deposit AM-12-015 CIFs were not acquired. Abstract/Table 1 disagree on the 1M c parameter and 1A beta uncertainty; those numerical values are not selected here.
    https://doi.org/10.2138/am.2012.3889 (accessed 2026-10-15)
  3. pekov2024: Pekov et al. (2024), A New Mineral Calcioveatchite, SrCaB11O16(OH)5·H2O, and the Veatchite-Calcioveatchite Isomorphous Series, Minerals 14, 901, DOI 10.3390/min14090901. Complete 18-page publisher PDF: nomenclatural history pp. 1-3; specimens/methods pp. 3-6; chemical analyses Table 1 and Figure 6 p. 8; site occupancies Table 4 pp. 10-11; species boundary and Penobsquis comparison sections 5.1-5.2 pp. 14-16. Used for modern species boundaries, not as a reanalysis of Grice and Pring's exact crystals.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/min14090901 (accessed 2026-10-15)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-15T23:51:09Z codex (GPT-6; codex) CREATE Created a distinct veatchite mineral owner covering its three polytypes, specimen-specific diffraction and the modern calcioveatchite boundary, without promoting geological associations into a demonstrated transition mechanism.

Record source: data/records/veatchite.yaml