July 25, 2016
Magnetite from Utah
We just finished cleaning a small batch of Magnetite specimens from the classic Utah locality in Iron County. Several of these have a few well-formed crystals of lemon-yellow Fluorapatite. At this deposit, the apatite forms first, and is later engulfed by the Magnetite, which causes considerable stresses in the apatites. Finding intact Fluorapatites is thus not common.

Some specimens also have rosettes of Chalcedony which are not common, and one of the specimens has rare crystals of Ferro-hornblende. Unlike many specimens from here, these have much brighter luster, and in some areas are mirror bright. These definitely are largely Magnetite as they demonstrate magnetism.