Bixbite

Bixbite (also known as red beryl, red emerald, or scarlet emerald) is a red variety of beryl (emerald), Be3(Al,Mn)2(SiO3)6. It was named after the Utah mineral collector Maynard Bixby, and should not be confused with the similarly named bixbyite. Bixbite is rare and has only been reported from a handful of locations including:


 * Wah Wah mountains, Beaver County, Utah
 * Paramount Canyon, Sierra County, New Mexico
 * Round Mountain, Sierra County, New Mexico
 * Thomas Range, Juab County, Utah

The greatest concentration of gem-grade red beryl comes from the Violet Claim in the Wah Wah mountains of mid-western Utah.

Bixbite occurs in topaz-bearing rhyolites. It formed by crystallizing under low pressure and high temperature from a pneumatolitic phase along fractures or within miarolitic cavities and rhyolitic magmas near the surface. Minerals it is found with include bixbyite, quartz, orthoclase, topaz, spessartine garnet, pseudobrookite and hematite. The red color is thought to be from manganese substituting for aluminium in the beryl structure.

Gem-quality bixbite is very rare, and the largest faceted gemstones are less than three carats (600 mg) in size.