QUALITY ROUGH

RUTILATED QUARTZ 'STAR BURST'

This is a natural stunning  rough specimen displaying gold needles.This is a interesting stone in that the needles radiate from one spot so its called a star burst-usually from a mica centre-great collectors stone.You have to process kilos of this material just to find the star.

Mined in Brazil

Weight 71.05 cts app

Size 33 x 23 x 14 mm app

We have taken the picture with the stone wet.We have also used a yellow light to try and show the "star burst'

Quartz is the most common mineral on Earth. It is found in nearly every geological environment and is a component of almost every rock type.  It makes up about 12% of the earth's crust, occurring in a wide variety of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. It is also the most varied in terms of variety and color.  Quartz is a 7 on the Mohs scale of hardness.

Rutilated quartz is found in Australia, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Norway, Pakistan and the United States.

Rutile is a major ore of titanium, which is a metal used for high tech alloys. It often forms needle-like crystal inclusions inside quartz.  This form of quartz is known as rutilated quartz and it looks like small bars of imbedded needles.  Rutile is a 6 on the Mohs scale.

Because of the difference in hardness between the two materials and because of the way rutile forms inside, this can be a difficult stone to attain a smooth surface without pits.