Enstatite (Fe-rich)

specimen number:
2354125

location:
Barton Mines, Warren Co., New York, USA

description:
A lustrous black crude large crystal of enstatite, this iron rich, without matrix. Very little almandine is attached.

Located on Gore Mountain in Warren County, New York, the Barton Mines exploit a world-famous deposit of giant garnet crystals embedded within a dark amphibolite metamorphic host rock. Formed under intense heat and pressure deep in the Adirondack Crust during the Grenville Orogeny, these deep red almandine-pyrope garnets often measure several inches to over a foot across and display unique internal fracturing. Established in 1878 by Henry Hudson Barton, the open-pit mining operation became the world's leading producer of industrial abrasive garnets, prized for their extreme hardness and sharp cleavage edges. While commercial mining eventually transitioned to a nearby site on Ruby Mountain in the 1980s, the original Gore Mountain mine remains a legendary destination where mineral enthusiasts and tourists continue to collect vibrant red garnet fragments from the historical tailing piles.

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