Bixbyite with Topaz
specimen number:
2102331
location:
Thomas Range, Juab Co., Utah, USA
description: The Thomas Range, situated within Juab County in western Utah, United States, is an internationally celebrated mineral locality globally renowned for producing world-class specimens of the rare manganese iron oxide mineral bixbyite, which was first discovered and described from this exact type locality in 1897. Geologically, these unique specimens are hosted within the Topaz Mountain Rhyolite, a highly evolved, fluorine-rich volcanic lava flow complex erupted during the Oligocene epoch roughly 30 to 36 million years ago. As the thick rhyolitic lavas cooled, escaping gases created a dense network of hollow miarolitic cavities and lithophysae, which were subsequently filled by high-temperature, pneumatolytic vapor-phase minerals that allowed exceptionally sharp, lustrous, jet-black cubes of bixbyite to crystallize cleanly alongside wine-yellow topaz, red beryl, pseudobrookite, and hematite. Historically, organized surface exploration and localized open-cast quarrying across the range began in the late nineteenth century following the initial scientific identification of the unique mineral suite, with specific claims like the Solar Wind and Maynard Topaz mines developed over the twentieth century primarily for specialized specimen recovery rather than industrial metal mining. Small-scale, seasonal quarrying operations by private claim holders and commercial specimen miners ran consistently through the mid-to-late twentieth century and have continued to expand in efficiency into the early twenty-first century. Through 2026, the Thomas Range remains a highly active, strictly regulated area for both private commercial claims and designated public rockhounding reserves, where classic bixbyite cubes on a contrasting white rhyolite matrix are universally recognized as elite, highly coveted benchmarks of classic American mineralogy.
Sharp bright lustrous cubic crystals of bixbyite measuring to just under 1.0 cm in size on matrix with topaz.
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