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Diaspore (Template:IPAc-en)Template:Sndalso called diasporite, empholite, kayserite, or tanatariteTemplate:Sndis an aluminium hydroxide oxide mineral, α-AlO(OH), crystallizing in the orthorhombic system and isomorphous with goethite. It occurs sometimes as flattened crystals, but usually as lamellar or scaly masses, the flattened surface being a direction of perfect cleavage on which the lustre is markedly pearly in character. It is colorless or greyish-white, yellowish, sometimes violet in color, and varies from translucent to transparent.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It may be readily distinguished from other colorless transparent minerals with a perfect cleavage and pearly luster (e.g. mica, talc, brucite, and gypsum) by its greater hardness of 6.5–7. Its specific gravity is 3.4. When heated before the blowpipe, it decrepitates violently, breaking up into white pearly scales.<ref name="EB1911">{{#if: |

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The mineral occurs as an alteration product of corundum or emery and is found in granular limestone and other crystalline rocks. Well-developed crystals are found in the emery deposits of the Ural Mountains and at Chester, Massachusetts, and in kaolin at Schemnitz in Hungary. If obtainable in large quantity, it would be of economic importance as a source of aluminium.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Diaspore, along with gibbsite and boehmite, is a major component of the aluminium ore bauxite.<ref name=Klein/>

It was first described in 1801 for an occurrence in Mramorsk Zavod, Sverdlovskaya Oblast, Middle Urals, Russia. The name, which was coined by René Just Haüy,Template:Sfn is from the Ancient Greek Template:Wikt-lang meaning "to scatter", in allusion to its decrepitation on heating.<ref name=Handbook/>

Csarite, ottomanite, Turkizite and zultanite are trade names for gem-quality diaspore (also known as Turkish diaspore) from the İlbir Mountains of southwest Turkey.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

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