Goethite with Quartz

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As the name suggests, Restormel Royal iron mine is renowned for fine specimens of Goethite - iron ore. This example offers something very different. It has the beautiful concentric banding expected of Goethite from this mine, but alongside this it has some crazy, difficult to explain, Quartz mineralization. Paragenetically, it presents a puzzle. The Quartz forms angular, polymorphic masses, with perfectly straight sides growing inwards into crystal-lined cavities. The straight outer edges must have grown on a flat surface, but, postdating this, the flat edges are covered in radiating masses of Goethite, having clearly formed upon the already shattered surfaces of the Quartz. Something clearly very strange happened during the mineralizing events but for us, we can just enjoy these bizarre textures.