Kyanite belongs to the mineral class of silicates and germanates and owes its name to its predominantly blue colouring (κύανος = Greek: mountain blue, dark metal, ultramarine). It is an allochromatic stone, which means that kyanite is colourless in its original form and only acquires its special blue colour when other substances are added. This blue colour often leads to the mineral being confused with stones such as aquamarine, benitoite, cordierite, sapphire or blue tourmaline. Up to now, about 1300 places where kyanite has been found are known, especially Brazil, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Austria, Switzerland or America. Since the cutting process is difficult due to the extraordinary hardness properties (two different degrees of hardness) and the perfect cleavage, kyanite is rarely found in the field of jewellery processing.
