Cubic Thorianite Crystal from Madagascar
6.7 grams
.997x.93x.975 cm
145,000 cpm on RC110
This acqusition took multiple parties to source, ship (multiple times), and incurred much time and taxes to bring to fruition! I likely won't find such nice stones and rarely have the chance to present such nice crystals of this rare species. My pleasure here comes from getting you the unattainable. In short, I get very little from all of this this and don't miss this chance!
Thorianite is a rare thorium oxide mineral, ThO2. It was originally described by Ananda Coomaraswamy in 1904 as uraninite, but recognized as a new species by Wyndham R. Dunstan. It was so named by Dunstan on account of its high percentage of thorium; it also contains the oxides of uranium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium and neodymium. Helium is present, and the mineral is slightly less radioactive than pitchblende, but is harder to shield due to its high energy gamma rays.