Tiger's Eye

[Wwoofa]

Hi,
This month's "Gem of the Month" is .... Tiger's Eye.

Feel free to add more info & pics. If anyone has any questions about Tiger's Eye then this is a good place to post them.

You might like to change your "Gem of the Month" votes now that this one has been covered.

General Information:
Tiger's Eye is a chatoyant gemstone that is usually a metamorphic rock that is a golden to red-brown color, with a silky luster. A member of the quartz group, it is a classic example of pseudomorphous replacement by silica of fibrous crocidolite (blue asbestos).  An incompletely silicified blue variant is called Hawk's eye.

Tiger iron is an altered rock composed chiefly of tiger's eye, red jasper, and black hematite.  The contrasting bands of color and luster make it very attractive and it is mainly used for jewelry-making and ornamentation.

Here are a few useful links that should cover all of the main information.

Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger's_eye
Mindat - http://www.mindat.org/min-3960.html
Gemdat - http://www.gemdat.org/gem-3960.html
Minerals.Net - http://www.minerals.net/gemstone/tiger's_eye_gemstone.aspx

Fossicking Locations:
Tiger's Eye is found in the Hamersley Ranges in Western Australia.  The most well known location is the Brockman Tiger Eye Mine (Marra Mamba).

WA - Brockman Tiger Eye Mine (Marra Mamba)
The mine is located approximately 50 kilometres north-west of Tom Price, near Mt Brockman, adjacent to Caves Creek Valley on Hamersley Station.

A number of deposits of Tiger Iron are found here mined by Western Australian specimen dealers and the material is well known overseas.  Probably most of the specimens sold internationally of Tiger's Eye come from here.

The Marra Mamba Formation is an iron-rich geological unit in the Archaean-Palaeoproterozoic Hamersley Group.

In 2005, a local miner discovered one of the largest Tiger's Eye specimens ever at Marra Mamba. It was placed on display at the Tucson Show, and later cut into slabs. One is said to form the counter top of a hotel reception area at Port Hedland.  Another the size of a large dining room table is on display at the Kalgoorlie Miners Hall of Fame.

Some more info & pics can be found here ...
http://outbackmining.com/Tiger%20eye.htm

[smg id=6662 type=preview align=center width=400 caption="Tiger's Eye at Tucson Show"]

[brett h]

   That'll cab...