ANALYSIS OF MINERALS IN CEMPAKA-MADU GEMSTONE FROM ACEH INDONESIA BY USING XRF

Ismail . (Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh 23111, Indonesia)
Akmal Nizar (Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh 23111, Indonesia)
Mursal . (Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh 23111, Indonesia)

Jurnal Natural
Volume 18, Number 1, February 2018

Abstract. Cempaka-madu is a local name for one kind of gemstone from Aceh province in Indonesia. It is so attractive and its color is dark-orange. We have utilized X-Ray Florescent (XRF) to study these cempaka-madu gemstones from Aceh Tengah and Nagan Raya districts in Aceh province. Our results show that the cempaka-madu gemstone from Nagan Raya district contains 84.90% of SiO2, 8.89% of NiO, 5.47% of Fe2O3, and 0.6% of CaO. The mineral contains in cempaka-madu gemstone from Aceh Tengah district is about the same as those from Nagan Raya district. It is found that the oxide compounds contained in the cempaka-madu gemstone is significantly different than that in jadeite, nephrite-actinolite, nephrite-tremolite, serpentine-clinochrysotile, serpentine-antigoride, and vesuvianite. Consequently, we conclude that the cempaka-madu gemstone from Aceh Indonesia cannot be categorized as jade. Keywords: cempaka-madu gemstone, jade, jadeite, nephrite, serpentine, vesuvianite