By a margin of just SIX VOTES, #Stibnite defeated #Corundum to continue on to the #MinCup23 semifinals.

Every vote counts, especially as we get closer to the finals!

#MinCup23 QUARTER-FINALS 2:
Giant-killer #Stibnite grinds against the Mohs hardness 9 #Corundum. Will your love of beauty lead you to the original kohl or the colourful gem?

Vote: https://www.mineralcup.org/2023/campaigns/round-3-match-2

Results: https://www.mineralcup.org/results/round-3-match-2

Congratulations, #Corundum, for bringing the sparkle of rubies and sapphire with the utility of emery into #MinCup23 Round 3!

Nice showing for your first year, #Topaz, and sorry you got scratched. We’ll see you in 2024!

#MinCup23 Round 2 Match 4

If you thought last round featured some hard battles, we were just getting started! Who wins in the battle of beauty and brawn between #Topaz (Mohs 8) and #Corundum (Mohs 9)?

Vote: https://www.mineralcup.org/2023/campaigns/campaigns/campaigns/round-2-match-4

Results: https://www.mineralcup.org/results/round-2-match-4

Today's #MinCup23 match is corundum vs lawsonite.

*Cracks knuckles*

I'm voting corundum, because folklore (and because as a kid I had a book on gemstones, and padparadscha seemed so magical).

I'm going to make this a thread, because rubies and sapphires figure into a whole bunch of tales and legends.

🧵

#folklore #folktales #mythology #gems #minerals #thread #corundum

It’s a hard-core battle for #MinCup23 Round 1 Match 8:
the industrial sweetheart and standard for Mohs hardness 9 #Corundum grinds against the index mineral for high pressures and low temperatures #Lawsonite. Both are tough, but only one hard rocker can survive this battle!

Vote: https://www.mineralcup.org/2023/campaigns/round-1-match-8

Results: https://www.mineralcup.org/results/round-1-match-8

So, #Lawsonite vs #Corundum, tough call. It should be easy: rubies, sapphires, abrasives, OH MY! Big bad corundum, it sticks out in the crowd! So beautiful! Poor lawsonite doesn't stand a chance.... Well, I'm going to give it love. Ever seen lawsonite in thin section? Check it out below. Have ever seen something so beautiful? A kaleidoscope can't touch this, plus it's valuable scientifically in determining the metamorphic regimes, tectonic, typically. #TeamLawsonite #mincup23

Sapphirine's type locality is in western Greenland, south of Nuuk, which is where the mineral was discovered in 1809 by Karl Giesecke.

It was named due to its blue color being similar to sapphire, a different, associated mineral (#corundum, aluminum oxide).

An amazing amount of information can be found about #sapphirine at MinDat:
https://www.mindat.org/min-3531.html
a non-profit mineral data base founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph (who is on Mastodon at @jolyon).

#MinCup23 #Minerals #Greenland