The following information is from the website:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinel
Spinel is the magnesium aluminium member of the larger spinel group of minerals. It has the formula MgAl2O4.[1]The spinels are any of a class of minerals of general formulation A2+B23+O42- which crystallise in the cubic (isometric) crystal system, with the oxide anions arranged in a cubic close-packedlattice and the cations A and B occupying some or all of the octahedral and tetrahedral sites in the lattice. A and B can be divalent, trivalent, or quadrivalent cations, including magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, aluminium, chromium, titanium, and silicon. Although the anion is normally oxide, structures are also known for the rest of the chalcogenides. A and B can also be the same metal under different charges, such as the case in Fe3O4 (as Fe2+Fe23+O42-).
The hardness (Mohs scale) : 7.5 - 8.0
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