Rhodochrosite: Properties, Facts and Photos

Rhodochrosite is a pink to red manganese carbonate mineral best known for its banded forms, rare crystals, and association with silver deposits. This article explains what it is, where it's found, and includes some great photos.

What is Rhodochrosite?

Rhodochrosite is a light pink to deep red coloured mineral often found in silver mines. It occurs in fractures and cavities of certain rock types and can also be found as stalactites and stalagmites.

Rhodochrosite that forms with a massive crystal habit is usually characterised by white streaks of calcite or concentric bands. These markings and the stone's pinkish-red colour make this material relatively easy to identify.  

Well-formed, translucent crystals of rhodochrosite are extremely rare. Their colour, which can vary from raspberry red to varying shades of pink, comes from manganese.

The meaning of 'rhodochrosite' comes from the Greek 'rhodon', meaning 'rose', and 'chroma', meaning 'colour'.

Rhodochrosite became popular as an ornamental stone during the 1930s. It followed the discovery of some fine-grade material in Argentina. It was another ten years before rhodochrosite took off and started being used as a gemstone.

Despite being widely used for decorative purposes, rhodochrosite is soft and fragile, making cutting and polishing difficult. This is further complicated by its perfect cleavage.

Mineral cleavage is the way a mineral breaks along structural planes of weakness. Cleavage planes are the lines of weakness within the structure of a crystal.

Having perfect cleavage means that rhodochrosite can break easily along these planes, often leaving smooth, flat surfaces.

On the Mohs scale of hardness, it grades 3.5 to 4. 

Where is Rhodochrosite Mined?

Rhodochrosite has been mined in the Capillitas mine in northeastern Argentina since the time of the Incas. It was once known as Inca Rose.

The location where it's mined is the only place in the world where gigantic stalactites have been found. Measuring up to half a metre in diameter and three metres long, the inner colour is only revealed once the stalactite has been cut.

Being situated at 10,000 to 11,500 feet makes access extremely challenging. Exceptionally beautiful deep crimson red-coloured crystals have been found in the Capillitas mine. Some of these rival material from other world-renowned deposits.

The Sweet Home Mine in Colorado produced some of the world's finest rhodochrosite crystals.

Opened in 1873, it was originally a silver mine but wasn't very successful. By the 1800s, much of the rhodochrosite that had been mined there was on display in museums.

The Sweet Home Mine closed as a silver mine in 1893 but reopened in the 1920s solely to mine rhodochrosite. Subsequently, some of the most beautiful crystals ever found were excavated, but the mine is once again closed.

For about ten years during the 1990s, it produced countless extraordinary specimens. Rhodochrosite from the Sweet Home Mine is revered by mineral collectors around the world.

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science is home to the Alma King. Believed to be thirty million years old, it's the largest rhodochrosite crystal ever found. It was discovered in the Sweet Home Mine in August 1992.

Rhodochrosite was named as the state mineral of Colorado in 2002.

Rhodochrosite is found in several countries, including Peru, Poland, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, the U.S.A., and Namibia.

Article Pictures

The rhodochrosite images in our article were taken by Stone Mania during visits to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.

Pop-up photos
Photos 1 and 3: Courtesy of Stan Celestian. Rhodochrosite in photo 2: Courtesy of James St. John.