CITRINE

Citrine is a form of quartz with ferric iron impurities and is rarely found naturally. Origin of name from the French word "citron" meaning lemon. Also called citrine quartz. Most commercial citrine is in fact heat treated amethyst or smoky quartz. Brazil is the leading producer of naturally mined citrine.
Colour: the different shades range from yellow, gold, orange brown shades of transparent quartz.
Hardness:7
N.B. Citrine and Amethyst are the exact same minerals, the only difference is the level of oxidation of the iron contained in the mineral. As this can be done artificially by heat or irradiation a large majority of Citrine sold today is heat treated amethyst. There are currently no scientific ways to determine if Citrine was changed artificially.