Gahnite

specimen number:
2062942

location:
Davis Mine, Rowe, Franklin Co., Massachusetts, USA

description:
Bluish green crude crystals and masses of gahnite measuring to 0.5 cm in size throughout this matrix. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.

The Davis Mine in Rowe, Massachusetts, set within the rugged mica and quartz schists of the local metamorphic terrain, operated from 1882 until a cave-in ended production in 1911. It grew into the largest iron pyrite mine in the state, fueling a bustling industrial village and producing massive quantities of sulfur ore for acid manufacturing alongside minor copper. Long after its abandonment, the site became a noted locality for mineral collectors seeking specimens of gahnite, a scarce zinc-bearing member of the spinel group. Collectors prize the locality for yielding dark green to bluish-green octahedral gahnite crystals embedded within quartz and schist matrices, often associated with the residual sulfides of the old mining dumps.

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