Verdite: Gemstones Information

The name verdite is given to a deep green opaque ornamental rock composed of finely intergrown mica minerals: mica group species have undergone extensive revision and the name fuchsite denoting chrome mica is no longer used though muscovite remains as the name for potassium mica. Verdite therefore has to be described as a mixture of chrome mica and muscovite. The hardness is 3 and the SG in the range 2.70–2.87.Some verdite from Zimbabwe may contain crystals of ruby and albite as well as bands of rutile grains. Verdite of ornamental quality comes most commonly from Barberton, Transvaal, South Africa in many shades.