Australian Kyanite

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Gem Kyanite Crystals, Central Australia

My “love affair” with Kyanite first began almost 15 years ago when I was visiting the Harts Ranges in central Australia with a gem club. We’d stopped at Epidote location and I’d gone for a wander (as I often tend to do!) and happened to find a handful of vibrant teal-blue Kyanite crystals scattered around the base of a tree. The colour of these crystals was so intense, like nothing I’d ever seen in Kyanite before (later to be named “ocean kyanite”). I could tell straight away that they had been dropped there but they had to come from somewhere around there right? My increasingly wide circles of walking the area failed to show any outcrops of Kyanite and I reluctantly had to return home with the gem club, leaving that little mystery for another trip.

It was another 5 years or so before I was able to return to the area, this time armed with a little more geological knowledge. If those few crystals I’d spotted didn’t come from that area, they must have come from one of the Kyanite deposits further away. Bit by bit I explored the area, driving as far as I could then hiking into the potential kyanite locations, each time finding only very pale coloured crystals, nothing like those few fragments I spotted.

It took several trips over a couple of years before I finally found the source of the “ocean kyanite”. It was late one afternoon (its always late in the day when the best stuff is found!) and I’d climbed a small low ridge, a large band of black biotite mica schist running the length of it, and there scattered on the slope was this vibrant teal kyanite. Within a few minutes I’d found where they were weathering out of and started digging through the weathered mica. I’ll never forget when the first large piece of Ocean Kyanite rolled out….magic!

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4879″ img_size=”full” alignment=”right”][vc_single_image image=”4167″ img_size=”450″ alignment=”right”][vc_single_image image=”4887″ img_size=”full” alignment=”right”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”4880″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Over the last 10 years or so I have gradually explored these Kyanite deposits, each trip I’d hike a little further following the productive belt of geology that these crystals have formed in, a band of biotite mica schist surrounded by metamorphic gneiss.
The crystals are embedded in the mica and range in colour from lime green, aqua, light blue and the rare and incredibly rich teal coloured “ocean” Kyanite.

The crystals themselves can form up to quite large sizes (over 30cm!) however these generally tend to be pale and less translucent. I’m quite sure there are many more deposits yet to be found in the Harts Range as the potentially area is so large and often difficult terrain to access. I look forward to continuing to explore its frontiers!

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12 thoughts on “Australian Kyanite

  1. Mason Woods says:

    I greatly admire your perseverance, I’ve searched to no avail before but never quite like this. I would love to share stories with you some day!

  2. christina a hawkins says:

    Thanks for sharing Patrick, keep up the great work. Look forward to more stories.

  3. Cathy Casey says:

    I became interested in rocks and minerals while living in Alice Springs as a child for a year in 1969. Went back there in 2006, but did not make it to this Kyanite locality. I bought a couple polished crystals from a local jewelry maker. I am thrilled to see that you found the Motherlode of this locality! Guess i might not have found much in a couple hours if I had made it there! Love your Instagram specimen photos and looking forward to receiving the order I made today that will arrive on Mt. Shasta in Northern California. My heart is still in the Outback, 47 years later.

  4. Patrick says:

    Hi Cathy, thanks for taking the time to say hi. I can understand why your heart is still in the outback, its a magical place that’s for sure!
    Look forward to sending you some treasures from there.

  5. Cathy Casey says:

    Hi Patrick,

    Lucky you getting to roam the area and finding such a wonderful bounty! I see that you just listed other Kyanite’s, single crystals, with even better color. Perhaps I should trade my two in for a better color single one? I like that $32.00 one. Oh well, I think I would like any of them, but perhaps I should have waited until you added new ones to purchase. I wonder what other fine discoveries you will make in your lifetime? You seem half genius in your marketing approach. I have a ‘thing’ for Kyanite, and sell a lot of the Brazilian Blue myself. Really happy to have found you online, love your merchandise and personal collection and artistry. Smiles…

  6. Thais Gaudet says:

    What an unbelievably exciting & BEAUTIFUL life you must have!?Unfortunately I’ve never been to Australia as it looks to be such a truly magical place. I’m from Baton Rouge,Louisiana,USA (still presently living there) although the South does have beauty & wonder it’s a TOTALLY DIFFERENT type of beauty & wonder. I would love to be able to see Mother Nature @ Her best which I’ve come to believe MUST be in Australia!!! Thank you for taking the time to share your adventures & discoveries – I’ll have to settle to live vicariously through your pictures!! Your life must be amazing! Thanks again & have a wonderful day (or dig-whichever presents itself first.

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