Collection: Hematite from Elba Island

Rio Marina, on the northeastern coast of Elba in Tuscany, is one of Europe’s oldest mining sites, worked for iron since Etruscan and Roman times. Commercial extraction ended in 1981, and the area is now a protected mining park. The Rio Mine is made up of many stopes, and Bacino stope is known for well-crystallized hematite.

The hematite here is metallic iron-black, in delicate platy crystals with a mirror-like luster that flashes in the light. In some specimens the plates fan out in layers like petals, a form that is hard to come by. Surfaces sometimes carry a thin iridescent film of violet, blue, magenta, green or bronze, and some pieces grow with clear quartz, black set sharply against white.