Quartz with Hematite after Ilvaite

specimen number:
2063252

location:
Green Mountain-Bessemer Ridge, King Co., Washington, USA

description:
A prismatic crystal of what I believe to have been ilvaite, this replaced by hematite and mostly coated with needlelike sparkling crystals of quartz to 0.3 cm in size. This is classic material from the 1970s and 1980s. These are often said to have been after epidote, but I believe it to have been ilvaite. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.

Green Mountain and Bessemer Ridge, located in the Snoqualmie Mining District of King County, Washington, featured contact metasomatic skarn deposits and breccia zones formed where Tertiary magma from the Snoqualmie Batholith intruded marine sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Historically, the area attracted prospectors in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who worked small claims targeting iron ore, copper, and precious metals. In subsequent decades, the region became a well-known locality for amateur mineral collecting, though access has been limited by private claims and public land protections. Notable minerals discovered in the skarn and breccia formations include dark red andradite garnet, grossular, quartz (including amethyst scepters and Japan-law twins), hematite pseudomorphs, magnetite, epidote, actinolite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, barite, and axinite.

Questions about this specimen?
Send an email or call us: 314-341-1811.