

The name of phenakite was given by N.G.Nordenskiöld (father of the famous polar explorer) a Finnish/Swedish/Russian mineralogist in 1833 from the Greek phenakos (cheat) word, becouse it is very simular to quartz. Phenakite is a rare mineral, it was discovered in Russia first, near Malisevo in a mine wich is one of the emerald localities in the Ural Mountains. Usually it issues in granite pegmatites, but also in metamorphic slates and hydrothermal streams. It can be found in grainy, stringy, spherical spherulite shapes in prismatic, thick and reduced crystals. Beside its russian location it can be located in Austria, Norway, Brazil, Mianmar, Madagascar etc.