3.6" Vibrant, Iridescent Hematite After Goethite Formation - Georgia

Graves Mountain is a popular mining and rockhounding location in Lincoln County, Georgia. It contains several well known pits in which a variety of minerals can be found. One of the most popular sites, known as the "rutile collecting area", produces superb, lustrous rutile crystals that have attracted collectors from all around the world. The size and quality of the rutile from this area has deemed Graves Mountain as the world’s premier location for large rutile crystals.

Additional minerals from this location include iridescent hematite after botryoidal goethite, pyrophyllite, lazulite, blue kyanite, "blue" quartz, pyrite, fuschite, micro-woodhouseite crystals, and many more. Graves Mountain is still mined today and contains sites where collectors can go out and find these fascinating minerals themselves.

Hematite is a fairly common mineral, typically responsible for the red-brown colorations found in other minerals and rocks. Its chemical composition is Fe2O3, occasionally containing small amounts of titanium (variable formula (Fe,Ti)2O3). Much of the time, non-crystalline hematite specimens are the result of a transformation from limonite following loss of water.