Named after its type locality, the Zuni mine in San Juan County, Colorado, zunyite is an uncommon aluminum sorosilicate mineral that shows a soft, cherry red fluorescent response under short wave UV. The specimen shown here features hundreds of small fluorescent zunyite crystals in a matrix of mostly non-fluorescent quartz. This example is from a classic location for this material- the Big Bertha mine in La Paz County, Arizona. This size of this specimen is 67 x 30 x 27 mm and it weighs 52 grams.
Small octahedral crystals of zunyite show a rich, soft red fluorescent response under short wave UV (254 nm).
Same specimen shown under visible light. Small tan colored octahedral crystals of zunyite in a light/white matrix of milky quartz.