Brucite
Mineral Mg(OH)2
Also called Nemalite
About it
Soft, pearly plates that peel like mica but bend without springing back, in serpentinite and marble. Wood's Chrome mine, Pennsylvania, and Killa Saifullah, Pakistan, give fine specimens.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Hydroxide, brucite group
- Formula
- Mg(OH)2
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 2.5–3
- Specific gravity
- 2.38–2.4
- Streak
- white
- Lustre
- pearly, vitreous (glassy), waxy
- Crystal system
- Trigonal
- Colours
- white, pale green, grey, pale blue, honey yellow
- Transparency
- transparent, translucent
- Cleavage and fracture
- perfect basal; flexible but not elastic plates
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.