Strelkinite is a rare sodium vanadium oxide mineral typically found as secondary crusts or powdery coatings in oxidized vanadium-bearing deposits. It is best identified by its distinct bright yellow color and occurrence within sedimentary sandstone formations. Because of its rarity and often fragile habit, specimens are primarily sought after by advanced mineral collectors.
Is this strelkinite?
5-step field checkRun through these checks against the specimen in your hand. The more boxes tick, the more confident the ID.
- 1Test the hardnessTry to scratch strelkinite with a known reference. Strelkinite sits at Mohs 2-2.5, softer than the next harder reference, harder than the previous one.
- 2Check the streakDrag the specimen across an unglazed porcelain plate. Streak: light yellow.
- 3Read the lusterHold the specimen under a strong light. Luster: silky to pearly.
- 4Match the color rangeCompare against the expected color range: golden yellow, canary yellow.
- 5Look at form & habitCrystal system: orthorhombic. Typical habit: encrustations, powdery.
Often confused with
Strelkinite vs. its common look-alikes, and how to tell them apart in the field.
How to tell apart: Streak differs, so Strelkinite leaves light yellow, Carnotite leaves strontian-yellow; luster reads silky to pearly on Strelkinite and dull, earthy; silky when crystalline on Carnotite.
How to tell apart: Luster reads silky to pearly on Strelkinite and adamantine, pearly on {001}, may be dull to waxy if massive on Tyuyamunite.
Often found alongside strelkinite
Minerals reported to co-occur with strelkinite. Spotting these in float or country rock is a strong cue you are in the right ground.
All properties
- Chemical formula
- Na₂(UO₂)₂(VO₄)₂·6H₂O
- Mohs hardness
- 2-2.5
- Density
- 4.0-4.2 g/cm³
- Streak
- Light yellow
- Luster
- Silky to pearly
- Transparency
- Semitransparent
- Crystal system
- Orthorhombic
- Crystal habit
- Encrustations, powdery
- Cleavage
- One, ⊥ {001}, perfect
- Fluorescence
- Light green under SW UV
- Rarity
- Rare
- Uses
- Collector
- Host rock
- Along seams and fractures in carbonaceous-siliceous shales
Where rockhounds find strelkinite
Classic worldwide localities
- Basaral, ten km north of the Bota-Burum uranium deposit, Chi-Ili Mountains, Kazakhstan
- Kendyktas Mountains, Kyzylkum district, Uzbekistan
Field-hunting tip
Where it forms: Along seams and fractures in carbonaceous-siliceous shales. If you start seeing calcite, quartz, iron hydroxides in float, you are in the right ground. Typical habit: encrustations, powdery. Train your eye for that shape before scanning the outcrop.
Common questions
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Find strelkinite on the map
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