Entry № 253
Kinoite
Ca₂Cu₂Si₃O₁₀·2H₂O
Azure copper silicate of the Arizona skarns.
Chakra
Throat · Third Eye
Element
Water · Air
Zodiac
Gemini · Pisces
I. The Metaphysical Reading
How the stone has been held.
Kinoite is worked with as a stone of missionary honesty — named for the Jesuit missionary and cartographer Eusebio Kino — held for teachers, translators and anyone whose speech has to cross a cultural boundary. It is said to keep the voice both truthful and welcoming.
- Chakra
- Throat · Third Eye
- Element
- Water · Air
- Zodiac
- Gemini · Pisces
- Keynote
- Azure copper silicate of the Arizona skarns.
II. The Scientific Reading
What the lattice actually does.
Kinoite is a hydrated calcium copper silicate first described in 1970 from the Christmas Mine in Gila County, Arizona, and named for Eusebio Francisco Kino. It occurs as small prismatic crystals in copper-bearing skarns, typically nested on apophyllite or diopside. Its intense blue colour comes from Cu²⁺ in the silicate framework, and its rarity and modest hardness make it strictly a collector's mineral.
- Formula
- Ca₂Cu₂Si₃O₁₀·2H₂O
- System
- Monoclinic
- Hardness
- 5 (Mohs)
- Provenance
- USA (Christmas Mine, Arizona — type locality), Namibia, Kazakhstan
References & Sources
Independent mineralogical references used to verify the scientific details above.
Mineral Profile
Fact Sheet
- Chemical Formula
- Ca₂Cu₂Si₃O₁₀·2H₂O
- Crystal System
- Monoclinic
- Mohs Hardness
- 5 (Mohs)
- Density
- 3.19 g/cm³
- Refractive Index
- 1.63 – 1.67
- Provenance
- USA (Christmas Mine, Arizona — type locality), Namibia, Kazakhstan
- Color Origin
- Bright azure blue to sky blue
Related Crystals
Stones that share this lattice
Next in the Atlas
Kiwi Jasper
Pale stone flecked pink and black like a kiwi.
