The discovery of beryllium-bearing sapphirine in the granulites of the Musgrave Ranges (central Australia)

A beryllium-bearing sapphirine, spinel, taaffeite, phlogopite and apatite are closely associated minerals in a metasomatic zone in a pyroxenite of the granulite terrain of the Musgrave Ranges of central Australia. Analysis of sapphirine: SiO 2 = 14.42, TiO 2 = 0.06, Al 2O 3 = 58.95, Fe 2O 3 = 1.27, FeO = 5.43, MnO = 0.02, MgO = 18.75, CaO = nil, P 2O 5 = 0.04, BeO = 0.65, loss on ignition 0.25, total 99.84. α = 1.720, β = 1.723, γ = 1.725, 2V α = 48°. Analysis of spinel (pleonaste): SiO 2 = 0.28, TiO 2 = 0.02, Al 2O 3 = 64.85, Fe 2O 3 = 2.21, FeO = 13.70, MnO = 0.01, MgO = 18.74, CaO = nil, H 2O + = nil, BeO = trace, total 99.84. n = 1.756; a = 8.126 A ̊