Vayrynenite: Gemstones Information

Väyrynenite is Mn2Be(PO4)(OH) and has been found as occasional transparent to translucent rose-red to salmon-pink monoclinic prismatic crystals showing elongation and striations in one direction with hardness 5 and one direction of perfect cleavage. The SG is 3.22 and the RI for the alpha, beta and gamma rays is 1.638–1.640, 1.658–1.662 and 1.664–1.667,biaxial negative with birefringence 0.026. Väyrynenite occurs in complexzoned granite pegmatites as an alteration product of beryl and triphylite.Väyrynenite was reported from the Viitaniemi pegmatite near Erajarvi,Finland, but this material was translucent at best. After Kazmi and O’Donoghue had reported on Pakistan gemstones in Gemstones of Pakistan (1990) a single near-transparent rose-red crystal of facet quality was noticed in the Natural History Museum London and a few years ago  further reports on this material turned up in the literature but there have still not been many faceted examples reported. The location for some large crystals is Broghul Pass, Chitral Valley, Pakistan.