Rutilated Quartz

Appearance, Uses and History

Rutilated Quartz is a gorgeous mineral, specifically a type of clear Quartz with a number of inclusions of Rutile. The rutile needles have a rich golden colour against the clear Quartz and make this an outstanding but still reasonably priced specimen. It is one of the few minerals where inclusions are considered desirable – often stones are prized for their perfection.

The primary use for this material is decorative; it is often cut into cabochons or beads for jewellery making, or polished into eggs, palmstones, or spheres.

One mistake that is often made is to consider any Quartz with needle-like inclusions to be ‘rutilated’; this is not accurate. ‘Black Rutilated Quartz’ is likely to be Tourmaline included, rather than Rutile included; as with other colours. Inclusions of Tourmaline, Actinolite, Dumortierite etc may look very similar to beginners to mineral collecting but the distinction must be clear.

Locales

The majority of the Rutilated Quartz sold online comes from Brazil, but fine specimens have been found in Australia, Austria, Pakistan, Russia, and the USA.

Mineralogy

Photos of Rutilated Quartz

Hazards and Warnings

Almost all rocks, minerals (and, frankly, almost all other substances on earth) can produce toxic dust when cutting, which can cause serious respiratory conditions including silicosis.

When cutting or polishing rocks, minerals, shells, etc, all work should be done wet to minimise the dust, and a suitable respirator or extraction system should be used.

Translations

As there is a good chance that the word ‘rutilated’ will not translate well to other languages, I have included translations for ‘rutile in quartz’ and ‘rutile included quartz’. 

Further Reading / External Links

• https://www.minerals.net/gemstone/rutilated_quartz_gemstone.aspx
• https://www.mindat.org/min-3485.html