Mineral Spotlight: Rutile

Whether as sprays of golden needles, or within a polished piece of quartz...rutile is a wonderful addition for any mineral or crystal collection.

When included in quartz, it can appear as hairlike filaments or striking needles.

But when the needles form with hematite, the golden rutile will radiate out in starlike formations around the hematite crystal.

Rutile can appear in a variety of colors like golden-yellow, metallic silver, black, blood red and a brownish red.

Rutile is what is responsible for something called Asterism. This is when tiny needle-like inclusions of rutile form within another mineral. When ruby and sapphire are polished and contain these rutile inclusions, an optical effect of a chatoyant star appears in the stone.

Rutile is a form of titanium dioxide.  Have you heard of that compound before?

If you’ve used sunscreen, you have!

Rutile, in nanoparticle size, absorb UV light. That makes it perfect as a protection against the sun.

Rutile is valuable for industrial purposes, so care in mining and preserving specimens isn’t the main focus in many locations. Large and spectacular formations of rutile are not as widely available when looking for one to add to your collection. But many thumbnail sized pieces similar to the example pictured are more readily available.

Larger sprays of golden rutile come from Novo Horizonte, Bahia, Brazil.

Crystals of rutile have been sourced from, Kinyanfumbe  Zambia.

✨ Looking to add some rutile to your collection? You can find a lovely piece here!