Thulite: Norway’s national gemstone
The pink to red variety of Zoisite (better known in its blue incarnation as tanzanite, see http://on.fb.me/1B8IMQy, though in fact it is often a vtype of zoisite’s close cousin clinozoisite, see http://on.fb.me/1BfqItj) was named after Thule, the ancient name for a mythic island in the boreal regions of eternal snow and ice after its first discovery in northern Norway. While transparent crystals exist the more usual form is a pink to red massive opaque mineral coloured by impurities of manganese that is popular in carvings and cabochons due to its relative cheapness.
Also known as Rosaline it is often speckled by white crystals of quartz. It forms in veins and cavity fillings from hydrothermal fluids and in granitic pegmatites. As well as the type locality it is also found in the Tyrol of Austria and Washington state in the USA. It can be confused with rhodonite (see http://on.fb.me/1Exy7BR, though it lacks the usual dark minerals) and rhodochrosite (see http://on.fb.me/1yGvdWP, though it lacks the banding of the massive microcrystalline variety).
Loz
Image credit: Penson Designer Gems