Titanite

specimen number:
2262029

location:
Bear Lake Diggings, Bancroft, Ontario, Canada

description:
A razor-sharp large lustrous crystal grouping of titanite with little attached matrix. In good condition.

The Bear Lake Diggings, located near Gooderham in Haliburton County, Ontario, is one of the most famous mineral collecting sites in the Grenville Province. Geologically, the deposit consists of complex calcite-vein-dike systems that formed during the late stages of the Grenville Orogeny approximately one billion years ago. These dikes formed when hydrothermal fluids rich in calcium, titanium, and silica filled fractures in the surrounding regional metamorphic rocks, such as gneiss and amphibolite. The site is world-renowned for producing exceptionally large, sharp, and well-formed crystals of titanite (formerly known as sphene), which are often found embedded in a matrix of orange or white calcite alongside dark green apatite and hornblende. Historically, the locality has not been operated as a commercial industrial mine for metal or mineral extraction, but has instead been managed as a public and commercial mineral collecting site for several decades. It remains a premier destination for researchers and hobbyists alike due to the ease of access and the high quality of the large, dark-brown wedge-shaped titanite crystals found within the weathered surface materials.

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