iridescent Hematite

Unknown Owner

Help improve this recordNo owner is registered for this specimen yet. If it's yours or you know more about it, you can add the owner, provenance, publications and other details.

A uniquely intense piece of this unique granular Hematite with stunning and intense iridescence. It features a kaleidoscope of colors with rich green, blue, magenta and yellow-green which are in a wider, more linear pattern that runs parallel to the length of the lathe. Dr. George Rossman has studied the mineral and concluded that the color is caused by a nano scale mineral growing epitaxial on the Hematite grains. The mineral has not been approved or named by the IMA because of the difficulty of providing the physical data about such a small mineral. Rock Currier was able to import one container load of this material in 1992. This is one of the better pieces he kept for his personal collection. At the time, the locality that was given out for the find was Belo Horizonte to protect the mine from being inundated with requests for the material. "This was a one-time occurrence, not because the material was exhausted in the mine, but because the mining of this small amount of material disrupted the mining plan of the mine [structurally] and management decided that a small sale like this one was not worth their time and effort. As an interesting aside, the mining company on occasion would scoop up a truckload or two of this colorful material and scatter it on the streets of a local small town on the occasion of a particular festival." Rock Currier stated in 2010 on Mindat.org. While these were common at one time, even then this would be a superior quality and rather large example of the quality; so it says a lot that it was the largest keeper in Rock's collection, as he brought them out at the time. And, Rock being Rock, he kept the best in several sizes.