Vote for your favorite mineral in #MinCup26! - Hafnon vs. Putnisite
It's a pair of tiny minerals of unusual chemistry as orange Hafnon battles with purple Putnisite.
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General#MinCup26 - Round 1 Match 9 - Hafnon vs. Putnisite

9th Sep 2026 00:09 UTCRyan Hamel Manager OP

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It’s a pair of tiny minerals of unusual chemistry as orange Hafnon battles with purple Putnisite. 

The only known mineral with hafnium as its main component, hafnon is an analogue and in a solid solution series with 2023 champion Zircon. The small, resilient irregular crystals are colourless when pure, but often darken to orange-brown with impurities. This silicate is found in pegmatites around the world, and shares so many properties with zircon that the two can often be difficult to distinguish. 

First recognized in 2017 in the Polar Bear Peninsula in Australia, Putnisite is the first mineral found that combines strontium and chromium. These tiny purple cubes are a rare hydrated strontium-calcium-chromium sulfate-carbonate with hydroxide ions. These waxy crystals have yet to be found outside Australia.

9th Sep 2026 00:13 UTCYash Redkar

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Putnisite for the win!

BTW today's MinCup error: hafnon written as hafnium. Seems there is one on most days, combining the MinCup website, Mindat and Instagram lol.

9th Sep 2026 00:31 UTCLalith Aditya Senthil Kumar

Hafnon!
 
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