Identity HelpUnknown from Mt Shasta Mine, Michigan
Material found at Mt. Shasta Mine, Michigamme, Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula.
It was found up near the top, past the big boulders on the path blocking cars from driving up.
I'm guessing the outside is some kind of iron build up. The material breaks incredibly easily, and I thought at first it was a kind of sand stone, but with a nice close up, it seems much more like tiny quartz (like some of the material from Graves Mountain in Georgia).
Wondering what else is going on here. The lines kind of look like Pyrite, or Muscovite, or Tourmaline. Some of the iron coating is also green. This isn't the best sample for the green look, but there should be a small amount there.
Any one recognize this material from this mine? Any more info on it?
Looks like some of the nearby quartz monzonite gneiss. As far as the green material, it's possible you have something in the chamosite-clinochlore solid solution series which is found there. That's about the best I can do without actually looking at the rock itself. 
I agree with Paul. By the way, the mine is properly known as the Michigamme mine. Many people formerly referenced it as the Mt. Shasta mine owing to its proximity to the former Mt. Shasta restaurant--now closed. It has been known as the Michigamme mine since its discovery by Jacob Houghton more than 140 years ago and is best known as a source of exceptional chamosite ps. almandine crystals and excellent grunerite. What would hardness be on quartz monzonite gneiss? or reaction to acid or any other tests I could do on it?
It's pretty brittle so that's why I ask. I figure gneiss would be pretty tough stuff. I can pull this apart bare handed most times.
And thanks for the proper mine name! I wasn't sure which was correct.
Agree with the Grunerite. I thought it would be difficult to find but found a great deal of it. Very nice stuff. Unfortunately, not a single Chamosite piece. Maybe next time. Hardness is tested on minerals only , not rock types. It pulls apart easy because it has weathered.
