I’ve got 3 special Blue Minerals to talk about today.

See…I’m on a blue mineral kick at the moment, b/c I got really excited when  I found out what the 62nd Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show ® for 2016 Theme is.

Can you guess?

“Shades of Blue: Minerals of the World”

I love Blue Minerals. ♥

I mean…can  you think of any Blue Minerals you don’t love?

Today we’re going to specifically dive into this blue ocean:

  • Covellite
  • Chalcopyrite
  • Blue Quartz

Covellite

Covellite is a crystal that I fell in love with quite a while ago.  It’s really difficult to find.  Very rare.

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

At the last Tuscon Gem and Minerals Show I picked up a thumbnail piece, a thumbnail specimen; that’s what us geo-geek’s call little teeny-tiny specimens. I got a very thin blue piece as you see in the above vid.

Covellite Stats:

  • Most pieces of covellite are very thin & flaky (aka “friable”) & actually very soft with a Mohs hardness of only 1.5 – 2.  That’s almost as soft as Talc is!  You’ll notice in the vid that mine has a little piece of museum putty to hold it in place so that it doesn’t fall out of the specimen box used for safe-keeping. 
  • The specimen featured in the vid comes from the Leonard Copper Mine in Butte, Montana where most of it found.
  • Being a copper sulfide, Covellite is a derivative of Copper.  (many copper derived minerals are BLUE)
  • It has gorgeous blue-indigo iridescence.  It has a slight bit of iridescence and a metallic look.  It is almost an indigo blue.  GORGEOUS.
  • Covellite’s crystal system is hexagonal.  You usually don’t find it in big hexagonal crystals or anything like that.  They are usually in these sort of thin hexagonal sheets. I love that Sacred Geometric connection we have with crystals there.

Covellite is really great because it’s a mineral that help us tap into our inner vision & psychic abilities.

Covellite helps to enhance our Third Eye Chakra which helps to amplify our psychic abilities.

Keep in mind, these babies are hard to find. You’re best bet to get a good specimen is to hit your local gem show when it comes to town. A little tiny thumbnail piece isn’t very expensive & usually what you’d expect to find.

Chalcopyrite

Chalcopyrite can come in many different colors.  Mine in the video happens to be very blue, yet also has that iridescence so there’s also some purple and green and some Pyrite characteristics to it.

Although you won’t see large crystals, sometimes you can find Octahedrons of Chalcopyrite as seen here! *look closely!*

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Chalcopyrite. Photo Credit: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

  • Chalcopyrite is a 3.5 to 4.0 on the Mohs Hardness Scale & is part of the Tetragonal Crystal System.
  • This mineral is usually found dusted on top of rock matrix.
  • A Copper-Iron Sulfide, it’s also a Copper derivative. The way it gets that iridescence is due to the Iron & the Copper oxidizing (reacting with oxygen in our atmosphere) 🙂
  • Just so happens, it was the Featured “Covergirl or Coverboy” or whatever you want to call it for June’s Rock & Gem Magazine~

Rock&Gem

The specimen I demo in the video is kinda large & has all the different iridescent colors in it.  You can have some that are predominantly green or predominantly purple, predominantly gold.

Chalcopyrite is a really great mineral to work with to allow Chi to flow more easily, allowing us to remove energy blockages & it works really well with all of the chakras.

Chalcopyrite is really great if you have a hard time maintaining focus or staying in a meditative state.

…Really great for helping to center you during meditations, if you need that little bit of extra help.  I don’t know many people who don’t need that extra little bit of help including myself!

Blue Quartz

Let me be clear here…I’m NOT talking about blue aura quartz or dyed quartz or blue aventurine…or anything other than a natural quartz point with NATURAL blue inclusions. This is some hard shizzle to find!

Well, I found a perfect little blue quartz point specimen in Tucson last year!  It’s has little blue rutiles, tiny, tiny, tiny ones of indicolite (Blue Tourmaline) included in this perfect natural quartz point.  JACKPOT!

2015-02-11 14.24.34

Now, you can find Blue Quartz made with various types of blue minerals in it (like magnesio-riebeckite or dumortierite).  It seems to be, and I could be mistaken, that most natural Blue Quartz is due to inclusions of blue tourmaline (aka indicolite) growing inside of it; little tiny blue rutiles of it. So you’ll see them like little hairs inside. You won’t see a uniform blue color in the crystal like you do with amethyst or smokey quartz.

Blue Quartz is of course as you might guess great for the Throat Chakra.

Blue Quartz helps you to express yourself in a more thoughtful yet calm & articulate way.

If you need to be a better listener, or a better communicator in general, Blue Quartz is a great crystal to work with.  Just a few things you could do:

  • you can meditate with it
  • create a crystal grid
  • whip up a crystal gem essence spray with it

My advice? If you can find even a small thumbnail specimen,  grab it up! My specimen here was only $20.00 dollars.  That price is subjective, of course. Some might think I’m insane for paying $20 for such a small specimen (It’s about 1/2 the length of my thumb).

Yeah, small.

And again, the best place to find pieces like these is your local gem show. Pay with cash & don’t be afraid to haggle a little bit to get your best price. Also, please read my blog post here for more Crystal Hottie Shopping Tips.

Well, my justification for purchasing this little blue quartz is:

“It’s Blue Quartz! You don’t find it sitting around everywhere.  A nice little point like this? You’re just not going to find it in every crystal shop!”

Yeah, I think that’s exactly what I said to Frank (my husbo) when I bought it. 😉 

Do you own any of these heavenly blue specimens? If not, what is your favorite Blue Stone? Please share your crystal experiences in the comments below!

Crystal Blessings!

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