Hi
I wonder if anyone out there has some info that could help me?
I have a pendant from New Zealand made out of a polished piece of nephrite that hangs on a bit of thong - it''s the stuff they call NZ greenstone. I''m sure it''s not a very high-quality piece of nephrite as it''s not very lustrous, and it contains a lot of of black mottling in the stone and has a number of small grey specks on the surface (I''m not sure whether to call this stuff inclusions or not). That said, I think it''s really pretty and being really fond of the thing I have been wearing it fairly continuously for quite a while.
The other day during a discussion about asbestos (recently found contaminating our workplace) my necklace came up as someone mentioned that some types of gemstone contain / are the same chemical as asbestos. I was sceptical, being fairly naive about mineralogy, but on checking the internet, I found that this is true! From what I gather, nephrite has the same chemical composition as one type of asbestos, but jewelry made from nephrite is OK to wear because of structural differences in....something or other.
I''m worried now because of the grey ''stuff'' in my probably-not-very-pure-nephrite pendant. It''s right at the surface - some of the bits have been cut through while the stone was polished, and it and looks a bit like short, cut-off fibres in the matrix of the stone. Is it possible for nephrite to contain asbestos ''contamination''? Do minerals like this occur in a ''spectrum'' where sometimes you get pieces that are midway between two types, so that mine could be mostly nephrite but just a little bit asbestos?
So I suppose my main question is: has anyone heard about / know about the possibility of asbestos contamination in nephrite?
I''m sorry this is such a long post but I hope people will find it an interesting question. I hope I won''t have to give up wearing my necklace!
All best wishes,
K
I wonder if anyone out there has some info that could help me?
I have a pendant from New Zealand made out of a polished piece of nephrite that hangs on a bit of thong - it''s the stuff they call NZ greenstone. I''m sure it''s not a very high-quality piece of nephrite as it''s not very lustrous, and it contains a lot of of black mottling in the stone and has a number of small grey specks on the surface (I''m not sure whether to call this stuff inclusions or not). That said, I think it''s really pretty and being really fond of the thing I have been wearing it fairly continuously for quite a while.
The other day during a discussion about asbestos (recently found contaminating our workplace) my necklace came up as someone mentioned that some types of gemstone contain / are the same chemical as asbestos. I was sceptical, being fairly naive about mineralogy, but on checking the internet, I found that this is true! From what I gather, nephrite has the same chemical composition as one type of asbestos, but jewelry made from nephrite is OK to wear because of structural differences in....something or other.
I''m worried now because of the grey ''stuff'' in my probably-not-very-pure-nephrite pendant. It''s right at the surface - some of the bits have been cut through while the stone was polished, and it and looks a bit like short, cut-off fibres in the matrix of the stone. Is it possible for nephrite to contain asbestos ''contamination''? Do minerals like this occur in a ''spectrum'' where sometimes you get pieces that are midway between two types, so that mine could be mostly nephrite but just a little bit asbestos?
So I suppose my main question is: has anyone heard about / know about the possibility of asbestos contamination in nephrite?
I''m sorry this is such a long post but I hope people will find it an interesting question. I hope I won''t have to give up wearing my necklace!
All best wishes,
K
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