First observed in about 1891 in the vicinity of the Adelaide
mine, Dundas (east of Zeehan), stichtite is a rare
magnesium/chromium/carbonate-hydroxide. It has since been found
in moderate amounts at several other sites around Zeehan, and
south of Macquarie Harbour, plus a number of other parts of the
world - but rarely in such rich masses as in Dundas. Formed as
an alteration product of black chromite in green serpentinite,
the soft, waxy mineral is usually found as small spots, knots or
veins in the serpentine, and its colour ranges from pink through
lilac to a rich purple. The rock is thought to have originally
formed from mantle-derived igneous intrusions crystallising
below the sea floor, which were later altered to serpentine-
stichtite rocks by low temperature fluids. Stichtite was first
found before 1891 but not formally recognised as a new mineral
till extensive work by William Petterd and a group of scientists
in 1910. The mineral was named stichtite after Robert Carl
Sticht, an American-born industri