Red rutile is a striking variety of titanium dioxide, often found as sharp, needle-like acicular crystals embedded in quartz. Collectors highly prize pieces featuring clear quartz containing distinct red rutile inclusions, often referred to as rutilated quartz.
Is this red rutile?
5-step field checkRun through these checks against the specimen in your hand. The more boxes tick, the more confident the ID.
- 1Test the hardnessTry to scratch red rutile with a known reference. Red Rutile sits at Mohs 6-6.5, softer than the next harder reference, harder than the previous one.
- 2Check the streakDrag the specimen across an unglazed porcelain plate. Streak: pale brown.
- 3Read the lusterHold the specimen under a strong light. Luster: metallic to adamantine.
- 4Match the color rangeCompare against the expected color range: red, reddish-brown.
- 5Look at form & habitCrystal system: tetragonal. Typical habit: acicular, striated prismatic, reticulated.
Often confused with
Red Rutile vs. its common look-alikes, and how to tell them apart in the field.
How to tell apart: Streak differs, so Red Rutile leaves pale brown, Brookite leaves white to grayish white or yellowish white.
How to tell apart: Streak differs, so Red Rutile leaves pale brown, Anatase leaves white to pale yellow; luster reads metallic to adamantine on Red Rutile and adamantine to splendent, metallic on Anatase.
How to tell apart: Streak differs, so Red Rutile leaves pale brown, Tourmaline leaves white; luster reads metallic to adamantine on Red Rutile and vitreous on Tourmaline.
Often found alongside red rutile
Minerals reported to co-occur with red rutile. Spotting these in float or country rock is a strong cue you are in the right ground.
All properties
- Chemical formula
- TiO₂
- Mohs hardness
- 6-6.5
- Density
- 4.2-4.4 g/cm³
- Colors
- Streak
- Pale brown
- Luster
- Metallic to adamantine
- Transparency
- Translucent
- Crystal system
- Tetragonal
- Crystal habit
- Acicular, striated prismatic, reticulated
- Cleavage
- Good in two directions
- Rarity
- Common
- Uses
- Collector, Lapidary
- Host rock
- quartz veins, pegmatites, metamorphic rocks
Where rockhounds find red rutile
1 mapped spotsClassic worldwide localities
- Brazil
- USA
- Norway
- Pakistan
- Switzerland
Field-hunting tip
Where it forms: quartz veins, pegmatites, metamorphic rocks. If you start seeing quartz, hematite, albite in float, you are in the right ground. Typical habit: acicular, striated prismatic, reticulated. Train your eye for that shape before scanning the outcrop. In the U.S., the densest reported localities are in Georgia. Start trip planning there.
More red rutile photos
Common questions
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Find red rutile on the map
RockHoundR shows mapped rockhounding spots, access rules, and lets you log every find.
