Goldplated – Pearl – Apatite

Apatite is a multicoloured mineral that is often found in igneous and metamorphic rocks. However, mostly small grains are found that are only visible in thin sections. Larger crystals are almost only found in the last phases of solidifying magma; this is called a pegmatite. Apatite occurs in three types: Hydroxylapatite, Fluorapatite and Chlorapatite. Chlorapatite is incredibly rare. Hydroxylapatite occurs quite often, but not where you would expect. It is an important biomineral and when it comes to weight it makes up about 70%  of bones and tooth enamel of humans. Fluorapatite is the most common and is also the most colourful of the three. From blue, green and yellow to purple, red, pink, white and brown. In the mineral trade, Fluorapatite is just called Apatite because of laziness, but in reality about 99,9% of all the sold apatite is the fluor variety. The name Apatite comes from the Greek apatao (deceive), because the mineral was often confused with comparable minerals.