Class : Silicates
    Subclass : Sorosilicates
    Crystal system : Cubic
    Chemistry : Al₁₃Si₅O₂₀(OH,F)₁₈Cl
    Rarity : Rare

Zunyite is a silicate present in highly aluminous shales, some hydrothermal veins and altered volcanic rocks. It owes its name to its locality of discovery : the Zuni mine in San Juan County, Colorado, USA. It forms very beautiful tetrahedral or pseudo-octahedral crystals up to 2 cm, frequently twinned, colorless, greyish white, light pink or brown. It is a mineral only reserved for the collection, but little known collectors.

Zunyite is not present in the French underground.

Interpenetrating crystals of zunyite are common, however the true twin on the [111] axis is actually very rare. Ideally it forms a flat face like a 6-pointed star ; two tetrahedra are then nested one inside the other with a rotation of 60°. It happens that the 2 tetrahedra of the same twin present different truncations, thus giving rather singular sets.

No fake inventories for this mineral species.