Uralolite is a rare calcium-beryllium phosphate mineral that typically occurs as radial tufts or crusts in pegmatite environments. Collectors usually identify it through its characteristic association with rare beryllium minerals and its delicate, needle-like habit in cavities.
Is this uralolite?
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 uralolite with a known reference. Uralolite sits at Mohs 2.5, softer than the next harder reference, harder than the previous one.
- 2Check the streakDrag the specimen across an unglazed porcelain plate. Streak: white.
- 3Read the lusterHold the specimen under a strong light. Luster: vitreous, silky for fibrous aggregates.
- 4Match the color rangeCompare against the expected color range: white, colorless, brownish white.
- 5Look at form & habitCrystal system: monoclinic. Typical habit: concretionary, radial, wheat sheaf.
Often confused with
Uralolite vs. its common look-alikes, and how to tell them apart in the field.
Often found alongside uralolite
Minerals reported to co-occur with uralolite. Spotting these in float or country rock is a strong cue you are in the right ground.
All properties
- Chemical formula
- Ca₂Be₄(PO₄)₃(OH)₃·5H₂O
- Mohs hardness
- 2.5
- Density
- 2.05-2.14 g/cm³
- Streak
- White
- Luster
- Vitreous, silky for fibrous aggregates
- Transparency
- Transparent to translucent
- Crystal system
- Monoclinic
- Crystal habit
- Concretionary, radial, wheat sheaf
- Cleavage
- {010}, {100}, indistinct
- Fluorescence
- Yellow green under SW UV; butter yellow under LW UV
- Rarity
- Rare
- Uses
- Collector
- Host rock
- In complex zoned granite pegmatites (Boevskoye deposit, Russia; Dunton quarry, Maine, USA); in a spodumene-rich pegmatite in high-grade metamorphic rocks (Weinebene Pass, Austria)
Where rockhounds find uralolite
Classic worldwide localities
- Dunton quarry, Newry, Oxford Co., Maine, USA
- Boevskoye beryllium deposit, 35 km southwest of Kamensk–Ural’skii, Middle Ural Mountains, Russia
- Taquaral, Minas Gerais, Brazil
- Weinebene Pass, Carinthia, Austria
Field-hunting tip
Where it forms: In complex zoned granite pegmatites (Boevskoye deposit, Russia; Dunton quarry, Maine, USA); in a spodumene-rich pegmatite in high-grade metamorphic rocks (Weinebene Pass, Austria). If you start seeing moraesite, beryllonite, apatite in float, you are in the right ground. Typical habit: concretionary, radial, wheat sheaf. Train your eye for that shape before scanning the outcrop.
Common questions
How do you identify uralolite?+
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Find uralolite on the map
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