Goethite with Rutile

specimen number:
2102248

location:
Graves Mt., Lincoln Co., Georgia, USA

description:
A matrix of bladed kyanite, this coated with iridescent bluish green goethite, several rutile crystals to 1.0 cm present in one area. Damage present as seen.

Graves Mountain, located in Lincoln County, Georgia, is a world-renowned mineral locality situated within the Carolina Slate Belt. Geologically, it is a monadnock composed of kyanite-quartzite that underwent intense hydrothermal alteration, resulting in a unique suite of aluminous minerals including massive kyanite, lazulite, and pyrophyllite. The site is most famous for its exceptional rutile crystals, which occur as large, lustrous, dark red to black cyclic twins that are considered among the finest in the world. Historically, the mountain was first mined for kyanite in the 1920s, but large-scale commercial operations were conducted by the Combustion Engineering Company from the 1960s until 1986. While the industrial quarrying of kyanite for refractories has ceased, the site has been preserved as a premier destination for mineral collectors through organized "dig" events. Today, it remains a critical locality for studying high-grade metamorphic and hydrothermal mineral assemblages in the Southeastern United States.

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