#mincup24

The last match of round one pits a widely beloved gem vs a widely used ore!

https://www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1m16

TOPAZ

This hard silicate has claimed the place of one birthstone and two state minerals!

Name: From Greek τόπᾰζος, "green gem, chrysolite", which might be related to either τοπάζω, "to guess at", from the obscurity of the island where the ancient stone was mined, or to Sanskrit तपस्, tapas, "heat".

Bling: A strongly crystalline gem that comes in shades of orange (and more rarely, pinks or blues). Can also be polished until slippery!

Uses: Used as an abrasive and also an aid in steel smelting. Also gemstones.

Team Lick: Safe, but boring.

Didier Descouens. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

SPODUMENE

Double pyroxenes in this year's cup! This mineral's rainbow colors give way to valuable cinders.

Name: From Greek for "burnt to ashes", referring to its ash-grey color when refined.

Bling: A strong color-changer on top of its many base color options - changes color depending on the angle or light.

Uses: Source of lithium, which needs to be extracted by roasting! Also gemstones.

Team Lick: Safe, but boring. Research is ongoing on the hazards of spodumene dust, so don't inhale.

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

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It's a double #TeamDoNotLick round as arsenic proustite competes against Russian roulette titanite!

https://www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1m13

PROUSTITE

This scarlet crystal is made up solely of silver, arsenic, and sulfur!

Name: After its discoverer.

Bling: A striking silvery-shiny ruby crystal! It shares vivianite's dramatic darkening when exposed to light. Conchoidal fracture~

Uses: An important silver ore.

Team DO NOT Lick! Arsenic alert! I'm not sure if the silver is in a dangerously absorbable form here, but it's not helping.

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

TITANITE (SPHENE)

This mineral shares its name with its pyramidal shape (sphenoid)!

Name: After titanium. Still commonly called sphene, after Ancient Greek σφηνώ, "wedge".

Bling: When it's not being burgundy or bright green, titanite changes color depending on the angle. It also has birefringence! (You may know this from calcite - double refraction).

Uses: Source of the bright white pigment and sunscreen component, titanium dioxide!

Team DO NOT Lick! May contain thorium. Do not ingest thorium.

Fred Kruijen. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands license.

Two newcomers to MinCup, and little-known ones at that! Whoever makes it past this round, I'll include additional info from the #MinCup discussions in its next appearance. I recommend checking the Twitter thread @ MineralCup if you want more information before voting today.

https://www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1m04

DURANGITE

An aluminum phosphate with bonus arsenic. Found all across North America as well as England.

Name: After Durango, Mexico, where it was found.

Bling: A very pleasant blood red.

Uses: None (yet?).

Team Lick? Unconfirmed.

Leon Hupperichs. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

WAVELLITE

A hydrated aluminum phosphate, technically rhombic-shaped but mostly comes in orbs. Found in Arkansas, Devon, and elsewhere.

Name: After its discoverer.

Bling: ORB

Uses: Gemstone.

Team Lick? Unconfirmed.

Didier Descouens. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The rare vs. commonplace continues with a German #DoNotLick mineral up against beautiful and useful ruby!

ARSENURANOSPATHITE

This Black Forest mineral is chock full of fun and deadly elements - uranium and arsenic join the cast of aluminum, iron, oxygen, and hydrogen.

Name: The arsenic analogue to uranospathite (itself named for its uranium content and spathe/sword-like crystals).

Bling: A winner for anyone who likes bladed crystal habits.

Uses: None (yet?).

Team DO NOT Lick! It has arsenic AND is radioactive (radioactive)! What more could you want?

BLFrank. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

CORUNDUM

This gemstone nearly maxes out the hardness chart and has its own catalogue of delightful trace minerals that give it its rainbow hues.

Name: From the Tamil kurundam, for ruby-sapphire.

Bling: We've got red, we've got blue, we've got black, we've got white, you stick an element in here and we've got a color for you! Shines up pretty and holds carvings like a dream.

Uses: If you have a pincushion with a strawberry, you already know and love corundum. It's also used in lasers, watches, and spacecraft windows!

Team Lick: A non-toxic, though tasteless, lickable rock.

Géry PARENT. Public domain.

Could this be the most controversial match-up of round one? The always a bridesmaid, never a MinCup champion icon quartz goes up against infamous, alluring "is it even a mineral" mercury.

https://www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1m11

QUARTZ

The most common single mineral in continental crust, we live on quartz! It may be the most recognized mineral around - but can it make it to the championship?

Name: From German Quarz, ultimately from Proto-Slavic *tvrd-, "hard".

Bling: Rainbows, ombres, inclusions, cat's eyes - you could make a gem exhibit on quartz alone! It carves beautifully, but its natural spikes are the definition of crystal. (And have I mentioned... conchoidal fracture?!)

Uses: In addition to art, quartz crystals are crucial in electronics - it's the key ingredient for silicon wafers, and its piezoelectricity (makes a current under stress) lets watches, radios, and computers keep time. There would be no MinCup without quartz!

Team Lick: Sure! It tastes like nothing.

Parent Géry. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Fatimid ewer, 10th-11th century. Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen. Public domain.

MERCURY

It's a liquid on Earth, but freezes into a rhombohedral crystal structure. Mineral enough to be in MinCup? Will its mirror shine capture your vote?

Name: From the planet Mercury, which was associated with the metal in medieval alchemy.

Bling: The shine! The beading! The more-liquid-than-water flow!

Uses: Makes liquid-mirror telescopes, electrodes, and is useful for extracting silver and producing chlorine. It had many more uses in the past - in addition to lighthouses and thermometers (and medicine), it's responsible for the discovery of superconductivity!

Team DO NOT Lick! Though liquid mercury isn't well absorbed, mercury vapor will still poison you.

Bionerd. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

It's the battle of the grues today with two very different copper-containing minerals!

https://www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1m06

AMMINEITE

This bright blue beauty is only known from Pabellón de Pica in Chile, where copper deposits interact with bat guano to form the unique mineral.

Name: First known mineral to contain ammine (NH3).

Bling: Blue!

Uses: None (yet?).

Team DO NOT Lick: Contains copper, formed from guano, and unstable in water, so not recommended.

David Hospital. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

DIOPTASE

This emerald look-alike only forms in dry, carbonate-rich environments like deserts. It also has some fun anti-ferromagnetic properties if you cool it down enough (70K)!

Name: Greek for "see through"/"visible through", for the internal cleavage you can see in unbroken crystals.

Bling: Green!

Uses: Ground to make pigment or (carefully) cut to make gemstones.

Team DO NOT Lick: Also a copper mineral and often used in dust form, which can irritate your lungs as well as poison you.

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

An old favorite goes up against our first elemental mineral of the year!

https://www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1m03

PEROVSKITE

This previous finalist is rare in pop culture but a heavyweight in geology (and not just because it makes up Earth's deepest mantle).

Name: After some guy.

Bling: Delightfully cubic!

Uses: Members of the perovskite family can make very efficient, flexible solar panels.

Team Lick? Some are toxic, and classic perovskite (calcium titanate) powder can cause skin and respiratory irritation. I'd hold off.

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

Kttimliu. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

COPPER

One of the only non-silver metals, copper boasts a long and storied history with humanity.

Name: After Cyprus, the Romans' principal source of copper.

Bling: From unique red-orange sheen to distinctive green oxidation, elemental copper shines aesthetically! And if you like the appearance of competitor turquoise, you have copper to thank.

Uses: We've been using copper for at least 10,000 years! Nowadays we use copper in electronics, buildings, and many useful alloys and salts.

Team Lick! Not only safe to lick with a delicious bloody taste, humans need copper as a trace mineral in our diet.

James St. John. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

These two minerals put all their skill points in charm - will you be won over by puffball cacoxenite or mesmerizing charoite?

https://www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1m14

CACOXENITE

This iron phosphate likes to cosy up to fellow competitor wavellite, coating its spheres in gold!

Name: From Greek for "bad guest"! Its characteristic phosphate makes any ore hosting it a lesser source of iron.

Bling: Deceptively fluffy spheres of bright yellow crystal spikes.

Uses: An anti-use mineral, you want to keep this one away from any iron you're smelting!

Team Lick: Safe, but boring.

Christian Rewitzer. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Modris Baum. Public domain.

CHAROITE

This pearly Russian mineral has the gentlest of radioactivity from its potassium atoms!

Name: After the Chara river in Russia, near where charoite can be found.

Bling: So purple it was originally thought to be dyed. Its hypnotizing swirls continue in its conchoidal fracture!

Uses: Jewelry and small art pieces.

Team Lick: Safe, but boring.

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0