Is hematite magnetic?
Not to a hand magnet: natural hematite is not magnetic (IGS); a USGS separator pulled it at 0.10 to 0.30 amp. A grey bead that snaps to a magnet is hematine.
Not to a hand magnet. The International Gem Society says natural hematite isn’t magnetic, and the Handbook sheet for hematite, Fe2O3, hardness 5 to 6, prints no magnetic property. A USGS laboratory separator pulled 11 samples best at 0.10 to 0.30 amp, ten to thirty times magnetite’s 0.01. A bead that snaps to a magnet is not natural hematite.
In short
- Two scales, one answer. The International Gem Society hematite article says natural hematites aren’t magnetic. The Handbook of Mineralogy hematite sheet prints no magnetic property at all. USGS Open-File Report 99-529, Magnetic Susceptibilities of Minerals pulled 11 hematite samples on a laboratory separator at 0.025 to 0.50 amp, best 0.10 to 0.30: paramagnetic by its definitions, which reserve strongly attracted to a magnet for ferromagnetic minerals such as magnetite.
- The ten-times gap. On the same separator magnetite came off best at 0.01 amp. Hematite’s best range, 0.10 to 0.30, needs 10 to 30 times that current. Ilmenite’s best range, 0.20 to 0.30, sits inside hematite’s, and goethite’s, 0.40 to 0.50, above it, so the separator does not identify hematite either.
- The Fe2O3 pair. The hematite sheet says dimorphous with maghemite. The IMA list writes maghemite (Fe3+0.67☐0.33)Fe3+2O4: worked, the same 69.94% iron as Fe2O3. The maghemite sheet says strongly magnetic, streak brown, commonly as coatings on or replacements of magnetite; USGS names maghemite among the common ferromagnetic minerals. Composition alone does not answer the question.
- Documented failure: the hematine trap. The gem society says a magnetic material sold as hematine or magnetic hematite contains no hematite at all, and that these pieces even have red streaks: the streak test, which identifies hematite on hematite, does not catch them. Their magnetism does. Magnetic jewellery and any arthritis or health claim are out of scope here.
- When a real specimen pulls. USGS flags hematite and magnetite as often locked with other species, and says magnetite micro-inclusions make a lower extraction limit difficult or impossible to determine; hematite’s total range reaches down to 0.025 amp, inside magnetite’s below 0.01 to 0.05. A pull points to magnetite or maghemite in the piece. The site-wide comparison is on which minerals are magnetic.
| Material | IMA formula | Handbook magnetic wording | Streak (sheet) | USGS total range, amp | USGS best range, amp | Samples | Hand magnet (source) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hematite | Fe2O3 | None printed | Cherry-red or reddish brown | 0.025–0.50 | 0.10–0.30 | 11 | Natural hematites aren’t magnetic (IGS) |
| Maghemite | (Fe3+0.67☐0.33)Fe3+2O4 | Strongly magnetic | Brown | Not in Table 1 | Not in Table 1 | — | Named ferromagnetic by USGS |
| Magnetite | Fe2+Fe3+2O4 | Strongly magnetic | Black | Below 0.01–0.05 | 0.01 | 6 | Named ferromagnetic by USGS |
| Ilmenite | Fe2+Ti4+O3 | Weakly magnetic | Black to reddish brown | 0.025–0.40 | 0.20–0.30 | 8 | No statement |
| Goethite | FeO(OH) | None printed | Brownish yellow, yellow-orange, ochre-yellow | 0.20–0.70 | 0.40–0.50 | 6 | No statement |
| Hematine, “magnetic hematite” | No IMA row (script) | No sheet | Red (IGS) | Not tested | Not tested | — | Magnetic; contains no hematite (IGS) |
Is hematite magnetic? What each source says
Hematite is not magnetic to a hand magnet, and is pulled only on a laboratory separator, in the range USGS calls paramagnetic. The International Gem Society article, updated April 2024, says natural hematites aren’t magnetic. The Handbook sheet gives α-Fe2O3, hexagonal, hardness 5 to 6, density 5.26, streak cherry-red or reddish brown, and no magnetic property; its silence is absence from the source, not a measurement.
The measurement. Rosenblum and Brownfield, in USGS Open-File Report 99-529, Magnetic Susceptibilities of Minerals, passed 125 to 150 µm grains down a Frantz isodynamic separator at a 15° side tilt. Hematite came off at 0.025 to 0.50 amp across 11 samples, best 0.10 to 0.30. The report defines paramagnetic minerals as less magnetic than ferromagnetic ones and separable at up to 1.70 amp, and ferromagnetic ones as strongly attracted to a magnet, like a piece of iron. Hematite is on the paramagnetic side of that line; neither USGS nor the sheet tests a hand magnet.
On this site. The hematite species page gives the streak, hardness and density, which agree with the sheet. Its look-alike magnetite is on magnetite, and the iron carbonate on is siderite magnetic.
How much current does hematite need? The ten-times gap
The ten-times gap: on the USGS separator, hematite’s best extraction needs 10 to 30 times the current that pulls magnetite’s best fraction, 0.10 to 0.30 amp against 0.01. Table 1 of USGS Open-File Report 99-529 gives magnetite a total range below 0.01 to 0.05 amp and a best range of 0.01, across 6 samples. For ferromagnetic species the report started at 0.01 amp and stepped to 0.025, 0.05 and 0.10; for paramagnetic ones it started at 0.10. These are ratios of current, not of magnetic force; the report says it is not concerned with susceptibility in physical units.
Where hematite sits among the iron oxides. Ilmenite came off at 0.025 to 0.40 amp, best 0.20 to 0.30, inside hematite’s best range; goethite at 0.20 to 0.70, best 0.40 to 0.50, above it. Franklinite came off best at 0.10 to 0.20. The separator therefore ranks hematite as much less magnetic than magnetite, but does not pick it out from ilmenite. Streak helps but is not clean: the hematite sheet prints cherry-red or reddish brown and the ilmenite sheet black to reddish brown, and only the ilmenite sheet prints weakly magnetic. The method is on how to use a streak plate.
Hematite and maghemite: one composition, two answers
The Fe2O3 pair: hematite and maghemite have the same iron-to-oxygen ratio, 69.94% iron, and only maghemite’s sheet calls it strongly magnetic. The hematite sheet says dimorphous with maghemite. The IMA list writes hematite Fe2O3 (A, 1971 s.p.) and maghemite (Fe3+0.67☐0.33)Fe3+2O4 (Rd, 2018 s.p.): 2.67 iron to 4 oxygen, the same 2 to 3. The maghemite sheet says strongly magnetic, hardness 5, streak brown, calculated density 4.860 on synthetic material, and names it from MAGnetite and HEMatite, for its magnetism and composition.
Where maghemite comes from. Its sheet says it forms by weathering or low-temperature oxidation of spinels with ferrous iron, commonly magnetite, and occurs commonly as coatings on or replacements of magnetite. A third row with the formula Fe2O3 is on the list, luogufengite (A, 2016-005, USA); it has no Handbook sheet, so this page says nothing about its magnetism.
Magnetic hematite and hematine: the streak does not catch it
Documented failure: hematine has a red streak, so the streak plate passes it as hematite; the magnet exposes it. The International Gem Society says you may encounter a magnetic material sold as hematine or magnetic hematite, that despite its name it contains no hematite at all, that these pieces simulate hematite and even have red streaks, and that their magnetism exposes them as look-alikes. It adds that gem carvers have made cameos, intaglios and cabochons from hematine. A script finds no hematine row on the IMA list.
The decision. A polished grey piece that snaps to a hand magnet is not natural hematite on the gem society’s statement, whatever its streak. One that does not pull, streaks cherry-red to reddish brown and weighs 16.20 g in water for 20.00 g is consistent with the hematite sheet. The gem society’s own density range for hematite, 4.95 to 5.26, would read 15.96 to 16.20 g. Magnetite, 16.14 g, is too close to separate by weight: the magnet and the black streak do that, as on magnetite. Fakes in general are on how to tell if a crystal is fake.
Out of scope. Magnetic bracelets, therapy and arthritis claims are not covered on this site; this is not health advice.
Why might a hematite specimen pull a magnet?
A pull is information about another mineral in the piece. USGS marks hematite and magnetite as often locked with other species, and says micro-inclusions of magnetite or other ferromagnetic minerals make the lower extraction limit difficult or impossible to determine. Hematite’s total range starts at 0.025 amp, inside magnetite’s below 0.01 to 0.05: those are the grains that come off with the magnetite fraction.
The sheets name the candidates. The hematite sheet lists magnetite among its associates in metamorphic and igneous rocks, and says hematite is abundant on weathered iron-bearing minerals; the maghemite sheet says maghemite forms on and replaces magnetite. A hematite piece from the West Cumbria hematite mines (the sheet names Cleator Moor, Cumbria) that pulls at one spot is telling you where another iron oxide is. The full magnet survey is on which minerals are magnetic; the identification guides are in the collecting guides. Nothing on this site is offered for sale; the wanted list is the only commercial route.