The Probert Encyclopaedia of Rocks & Minerals

HEMATITE

Hematite is a name applied to two ores of iron, red hematite and brown hematite. They are both of a fibrous structure, and the fibres, though sometimes nearly parallel, usually diverge or even radiate from a centre. They rarely occur amorphous, but almost always in concretions, reniform, globular, botryoidal, stalactitic, etc. The red hematite is a variety of the red oxide, and is one of the most important iron-ores. The brown hematite is a variety of the brown oxide or hydrate; its streak and powder are always of a brownish yellow. Hematite has been found in enormous deposits in the United States and elsewhere. Many samples are soft as the hematite is sedimentary or weathered iron oxide and the true hardness is difficult to measure. Hematite has the formulae Fe2O3 and a relative hardness of 7.
Research Hematite