'Vorobyevite' Alkali Beryl (rare) - Afghanistan

A specimen of rare Alkali containing Beryl from new finds in Deo Darrah, which translates to the Valley of Jinn (Genies), in Badakhshan, Afghanistan. The first find of these in Afghanistan was in 2012 and some of the crystals were sent to Milan, Italy for analysis by expert Dr. Federico Pezzotta, who attributed the strange tabular crystal habit of these Beryls to the presence of significant levels of the Alkali elements Na and Ca. This material has controversially been sold as Beryl var. Vorobyevite, which is a confusing name as it has been previously applied to both colorless Cesium containing Beryls found in Russia, as well as Beryl rich in other Alkalis from Madagascar. Russian researchers created the name Vorobyevite for Cesium containing Beryl from Russia to honor a Russian mineralogist, whose name translates to Sparrow in English. Meanwhile, Italian researchers use the name Rosterite for Alkali and Cesium containing Beryl from Italy. I have reached out to experts on the mindat.org messageboard and was informed by researchers in Russia and Germany that testing of these in their hands revealed no Cesium content, however these continue to be sold as 'Cesium Beryl' by many dealers (Cesium is another Alkali element). In 2016 I was informed that labs in France had confirmed up to 3% Cesium in some samples from Deo Darrah. 

A lot of collectors are hoping these Alkali Beryls will generate interest in the scientific community and might eventually be declared their own species after thorough analysis, like what happened with the Cesium & Lithium containing Beryl analog Pezzottaite in 2003. However, quite the opposite has been happening as the administrators of mindat.org denounced the use of the terms Vorobyevite and Rosterite for Alkali Beryl from Afghanistan in 2015. They argued that old varietal names only apply to material from the specific deposits that the terms were originally used to described, and also pointed out that Vorobyevite must contain Cesium. So in conclusion these pieces can still be referred to as Alkali Beryl by collectors, but officially they are just Beryl var. Aquamarine that contains higher levels of the Alkali elements Na and Ca, and maybe Cesium too. Interestingly, there have been new finds of flat tabular Aquamarine in 2014-15 near the Gilgit area of Pakistan that looks similar to the Afghan Alkali Beryl. These flat Pakistani Aquamarine crystals tend to have complex finger like etchings on their terminations, whereas the Afghan crystals did not. Some of this material has been accidentally sold as having come from Deo Darrah, Afghanistan, but it is very likely Alkali rich Beryl as well due to the tabular habit. 

On my specimen pictured above, I had thought the tiny velvety druse crystals on the matrix alongside the Beryl might be a Zeolite mineral, but I was informed it may in fact be Rossmanite, a relatively uncommon tourmaline species. I sent some pieces of this Alkali Beryl for analysis to my friend Earl O'Bannon at the University of California Santa Cruz, and he was able to detect water and Chromium in the crystals.