Hematite

specimen number:
2063758

location:
Big Bertha Mine, La Paz County, Arizona, USA

description:
An excellent example for this Arizona classic, numerous brilliant lustrous mirror bright metallic crystals of bladed hematite standing up from matrix 2.5 cm in size. Minor quartz present. Hematite crystals are in very good condition as seen. There is one damaged quartz crystal present upon the matrix. Overall I think quite good. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.

Located within the Middle Camp district in the Dome Rock Mountains near Quartzsite in La Paz County, Arizona, the Big Bertha Mine (also known as the Veta Grande Mine) sits in highly altered metamorphic and sheared host rocks cut by hydrothermal quartz veins. Prospecting and small-scale mining in this region historically targeted quartz-hosted gold and copper deposits, leaving behind historic workings such as shallow open cuts, shaft remnants, and old ore-grinding arrastras. In the field of mineral collecting, the locality gained widespread acclaim for producing outstanding specular hematite specimens. These iron oxide formations occur as highly lustrous, mirror-bright tabular plates and bladed crystals up to several centimeters across, frequently embedded in or aesthetic on white quartz matrix alongside associated minerals like rutile and pyrophyllite. Although major commercial mining activity has long since concluded, the Big Bertha Mine remains a classic Arizona locality prized by field collectors for its sharp, metallic hematite blades.

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