MINERALOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF HEMATITE FROM ALINCI, REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Abstract

In this paper preliminary mineralogical characterization of hematite from Alinci is presented. Several crystals of hematite were collected for research. The straight-forward identification of the studied mineral sam-ples was enabled by optical microscope, SEM-EDS, ICP-MS and XRPD methods. The use of these methods showed that they are very useful methods for rapid mineral analysis contributing important analytical information. With these methods was established that the investigated mineral is hematite. Hematite crystals occur in the syenites. The size of the crystals is up to 2 cm. Crystals of hematite included small idiomorphic to hypidiomorphic crystals of rutile and ilmenite. Idiomorphic to hypidiomorphic crystals of ilmenite are corroded, relictized and separated as a solid break-down solution in a homogeneous FeO–Fe2O hematite mass. Twinned idiomorphic aggregate of ilmenite partially cata-clased into a homogeneous Fe-oxide mass also appear. Relict and corroded hypidiomorphic to allotriomorphic forms of rutile appear in a compact and homogeneous Fe-oxide hematite mass. EDS analyses on samples from Alinci show that hematite matrix contains from 1.59 to 5.89 % of Ti, whereas the rutile domains may contain from 1.15 to 1.50% of Fe.