Mineral Specimen #65 Blue Topaz with Tourmaline

Aqshatau Mine, Aqshatau, Qaraghandy Oblysy, Kazakhstan

This specimen has a nice blue color with a tint of green. Despite all the irradiated Blue Topaz cut stones, natural blue topaz is relatively hard to come by. This specimen appears to be highly etched with Tourmaline sprays in the hollows. I bought this specimen from a Russian dealer in the late 1990s. I could find very little information on the location other than it is primarily a Tungstun mine. Without analysis, the species of Tourmaline cannot be persumed (especially with all the Foitite showing up in formerly persumed Schorl). There  also small clear crystals and a white coating on some of the Tourmaline - this may just be Quartz - it was too hard to tell by sight even with a 10x loupe.

7 x 5 x 4 cm