Bixbyite with Topaz

specimen number:
1052671

location:
Thomas Mts., Juab Co., Utah, USA

description:
An early example of bixbyite, this with a sharp lustrous crystal on topaz. The specimen is stored in an antique cork stoppered vial. The specimen comes with an antique label as shown at the end of the video, this providing an acquisition date of 1908. The size provided is the size of the vial.

The Thomas Range, located in Juab County, Utah, is the world's premier locality for bixbyite, a rare manganese iron oxide mineral. Geologically, the range is composed of a complex sequence of Tertiary-age volcanic rocks, specifically the Topaz Mountain Rhyolite, which contains numerous gas cavities or lithophysae. These cavities were formed as the lava cooled and were later mineralized by fluorine-rich hydrothermal vapors that deposited bixbyite as sharp, lustrous, metallic-black cubic crystals, often associated with topaz, red beryl, and pseudobrookite. Historically, mining and quarrying in the district began in the late 19th century following the discovery of the Maynard Claim in the early 1890s, where bixbyite was first identified and described as a new species in 1897. While the region has seen various small-scale commercial attempts to mine for gemstones and industrial minerals, the majority of activity from the mid-20th century through 2026 has been focused on specimen mining and mineral collecting. Operations at sites like the Solar Wind claim and the various pits at Topaz Mountain have remained active for decades, providing the global market with the finest known examples of the species. The Thomas Range remains a quintessential example of high-temperature volcanic mineralization and is the type locality for bixbyite.

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