Western Australia Digs Blue Lepidolite for Jewelry

You can see sky in the stone. Blue lepidolite from Western Australia exposes the cosmic color of the skies while white inclusions appear as clouds. Only lepidolite from 'down under' looks a lot like looking up on a sunny day in summer.

Lepidolite is a micaceous lithium-containing mineral. Lepidolite deposits are found in the Pala region of Southern California. But lepidolite found there shows up in a pale dusty rose color in opalescent layers.

Lepidolite from Western Australia is blue. The blue color comes from rubidium (Rb), which, for all you chemist wannabees, is a heavy metal Group I element on the periodic chart. Its ionic form is similar to sodium (Na) in salt (NaCl). Not only is it blue, but also the Western Australian variety shows little of the micaceous (layered) characteristic of the dusty rose-colored lepidolite from California.

Recall, California paid little attention to the gemstone roughs dug up right there in its coastal hills. It took an East Coast minerologist to pronounce the rich West Coast resource as an important discovery. Jewelers paid even less attention. They still ignore the lovely lepidolite. Only hand crafters of one-of-a-kind jewelry want to work with the fragile mica layers of locally sourced lepidolite.

Unlike California, Australia doesn't ignore its blue lepidolite finds. Australian Outback Mining Company digs blue lepidolite from the ground in Yalgoo, a tiny town located nearly 300 miles north of Perth. There, Glenn Archer, company owner and operator, selects the best pieces for sale in international markets, including the Tucson Gem Show and Quartzite rock exhibits. Small slabs are sold online. It would not be surprising to see custom countertops showing up in the beautiful blue lepidolite in beautiful beach homes on the California coast.

More likely, blue lepidolite is cut, ground, and polished into cabochons, beads, and other lapidary products for jewelry. Sizeable slabs are prized and may be sold as mineral murals of summer skies on a sunny day. Some day.