Ludwigite

Ludwigite is a magnesium-iron borate mineral: Mg₂FeBO₅.

Ludwigite
Radial aggregates of lustrous, black, metallic, acicular ludwigite crystals to 0.5 cm, from Alta Stock, Salt Lake County, Utah, USA.
General
Category	Borate mineral
Formula (repeating unit)	Mg2Fe3+BO5
IMA symbol	Ldw[1]
Strunz classification	6.AB.30
Crystal system	Orthorhombic
Crystal class	Dipyramidal (mmm) H-M symbol: (2/m 2/m 2/m)
Space group	Pbam
Unit cell	a = 9.26, b = 12.26 c = 3.05 [Å]; Z = 4
Identification
Formula mass	195.26 g/mol
Color	Pitch-black, olive-black
Crystal habit	Massive – fibrous commonly in fanlike to felted aggregates
Cleavage	[001] Perfect
Fracture	Brittle – Conchoidal – Very brittle fracture producing small, conchoidal fragments.
Mohs scale hardness	5.5
Luster	Silky to submetallic
Streak	Greenish black
Diaphaneity	Opaque, translucent in thin fragments
Specific gravity	3.6 – 3.8
Optical properties	Biaxial (+)
Refractive index	nα = 1.830 – 1.850 nβ = 1.830 – 1.850 nγ = 1.940 – 2.020
Birefringence	δ = 0.110 – 0.170
Pleochroism	X = Y = dark green; Z = dark reddish brown
2V angle	Measured: 20° to 45°
Solubility	Slowly soluble in acid
Alters to	limonite
References	[2][3]

Ludwigite typically occurs in magnesian iron skarn and other high temperature contact metamorphic deposits. It occurs in association with magnetite, forsterite, clinohumite and the borates vonsenite and szaibelyite.^[3] It forms a solid solution series with the iron(II)-iron(III) borate mineral vonsenite.^[2]

It was first described in 1874 for an occurrence in Ocna de Fier, Banat Mountains, Caraș-Severin County, Romania and named for Ernst Ludwig (1842–1915), an Austrian chemist at the University of Vienna.^[2]

Ludwigite needles and sprays as inclusions in a peridot crystal from Sapat Gali, Kohistan District, Pakistan. Size 2.8 x 2 x 1.1 cm.

References

1. Warr, L.N. (2021). "IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols". Mineralogical Magazine. 85 (3): 291–320. Bibcode:2021MinM...85..291W. doi:10.1180/mgm.2021.43. S2CID 235729616.
2. Ludwigite on Mindat.org
3. Handbook of Mineralogy