What "gem" made the pigment artist go to Ailao Mountain alone? Experts: Not suitable for pigment making

"A small blue mineral, very beautiful... a soft blue feeling..."

In the past two weeks, Ailao Mountain has become popular, and it all started with a blogger named "Shanqu". The blogger claimed to be a pigment artist and was going to Ailao Mountain to look for hemimorphite for his clients. The mountain exuded a mysterious atmosphere, and the hemimorphite he found was shown at the end of the video.

The blogger showed the screenshot of the social media platform of the hemimorphite he found.

The video attracted attention, and subsequent topics related to Ailao Mountain also became hot searches. Ailao Mountain has changed from a sparsely populated "forbidden zone" to a "scenic spot" that has attracted much attention, and hemimorphite has also changed from an "unloved" ore to a "famous" gem.

Dense forests, no signal, thick fog all over the mountains... Local people call Ailao Mountain the "Forest of Death", and netizens call it the real-life "Yunnan Worm Valley". Given the dangers of Ailao Mountain, why do pigment artists insist on going in to look for hemimorphite? What is so special about hemimorphite as a pigment? Chao News reporter interviewed Zhou Zongyao, chief scientific communication expert in Zhejiang Province and director of the Science and Education Center of Zhejiang Geological Museum.

The "Chinese Blue" among gemstones,

Not suitable for making paint?

The "unheard of" hemimorphite is actually not unfamiliar. It often coexists with calamine (smithsonite). Zhou Zongyao introduced that hemimorphite is a hydrated silicate mineral, usually in the surface oxidation zone of lead-zinc mines. It is common in the southern region, and is more common in the lead-zinc mining areas of Hunan, Jiangxi, Yunnan and other places known as the "hometown of non-ferrous metals".

With bright colors and unique shapes, hemimorphite is beautiful and has a texture. Its blue color is called "Chinese Blue" by many people in the industry. Zhou Zongyao said: "We have hemimorphite on display in our museum. It has beautiful colors and is very eye-catching."

Hemimorphite on display at the Zhejiang Geological Museum. Photo provided by the interviewee

Hemimorphite is mostly light blue, but there are other colors, such as milky white, gray, etc. However, hemimorphite itself is not a very valuable ore, and many people collect it just for ornamental stones.

In addition to being used for artistic appreciation, hemimorphite also has important uses in industry. "It usually coexists with lead-zinc mines and develops on the surface. This ore is bright in color and can be used as a sign of lead-zinc prospecting, indicating that lead-zinc mines may exist underground," said Zhou Zongyao. In addition, hemimorphite is also an important source of zinc due to its high zinc content.

Zhou Zongyao said that although hemimorphite has beautiful colors, it is not suitable for use as a pigment. "Hemimorphite is rarely used as a pigment ore because it is easily affected by the environment. When the temperature is high, it loses its crystal water and turns white or gray, which is not good-looking," Zhou Zongyao explained.

Rich and long-lasting color

Want to use another "stone" to make pigment?

As a color that can be passed down for thousands of years, the pigments made from pigment minerals are rich in color and can last for a long time.

"There are generally special minerals for making pigments. The ochre, lapis lazuli, turquoise, etc. that people often hear about are all pigment minerals," Zhou Zongyao further explained, "The characteristics of these minerals are that they are relatively stable and easy to preserve, and they generally do not change color even after being exposed to the sun and rain."

Zhou Zongyao took the Dunhuang murals as an example, saying that the use of mineral pigments in painting has ensured that the colors remain bright after thousands of years. Even now, people can still appreciate the artistic impact and shock of that time.

However, in our daily life, we rarely see traditional mineral pigments, and we mostly use industrial pigments, which is closely related to the stability of pigments. Zhou Zongyao said that although mineral pigments are bright and long-lasting, the ore often contains many impurities, and manual processing may lead to unstable color. Modern industrial pigments improve the stability of color by adding organic matter and colorants, and are more commonly used.

In addition, Zhou Zongyao also said that not only Yunnan's minerals attract attention, Zhejiang's mineral resources are also very rich, especially fluorite. Fluorite is a common mineral in nature, with many colors such as purple, green, gray, black, etc., with beautiful colors, and some are as transparent as glass. "Zhejiang is a major fluorite province, and its reserves rank second in the country. Many people from Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places come to Zhejiang specifically to collect fluorite mines."

Fluorite on display at Zhejiang Geological Museum (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Zhou Zongyao also reminded everyone that the blogger's behavior of going alone to Ailao Mountain to look for hemimorphite in the video is not worthy of praise, and everyone should not imitate it. In 2021, a professional natural resource surveyor died on duty while performing a mission in the hinterland of Ailao Mountain. It is understood that the blogger went into the mountains to collect ore without reporting it. The Ailao Mountain Conservation Bureau has criticized and educated him and asked him to return the ore.