Red and Pink Minerals
Garnet (almandine — deep wine red, dodecahedral crystals in schist). Rhodonite (rose pink with black manganese veins). Rhodochrosite (banded raspberry-pink, fizzes in acid). Ruby (vivid red corundum, very hard — 9). Cinnabar (vermillion red, extremely heavy, associated with mercury deposits). Jasper (red from iron oxides, opaque).
Blue and Violet Minerals
Azurite (intense azure blue, found with malachite, fizzes in acid). Kyanite (bladed crystals, variable hardness). Sodalite (royal blue with white veins). Lapis lazuli (dark blue with pyrite flecks). Sapphire (very hard, 9, hexagonal crystals). Iolite (changes color with viewing angle — blue to yellow).
Green Minerals
Malachite (bright banded green, always over copper deposits). Chrysocolla (vivid cyan-green, very soft). Emerald (vivid green beryl in pegmatites). Epidote (pistachio green, in metamorphic rocks). Amazonite (teal-green feldspar in pegmatites). Peridot (lime to olive green, in volcanic and metamorphic rocks).
Yellow, Orange and Gold
Pyrite (brass yellow, cubic crystals, hard — 6). Chalcopyrite (brass yellow, softer than pyrite, often iridescent). Gold (true gold yellow, extremely heavy, soft). Citrine (pale to amber yellow quartz). Spessartine garnet (vivid orange). Sulfur (bright yellow, lightweight, burns blue with SO₂ smell).
Black and Gray Minerals
Magnetite (black, strongly magnetic, heavy). Hematite (metallic silver to black, always red streak). Tourmaline/schorl (black prismatic crystals with triangular cross-section). Obsidian (volcanic glass, glassy luster, conchoidal fracture). Galena (silver-gray, extremely heavy, cubic cleavage). Hornblende (black blades in granite).