Mössbauer study of iron ore from El Hobo, Huila, Colombia

Iron ore from the El Hobo municipality located in the Huila department in Colombia (2^∘35^′7^″N 75^∘13^′27^″E) was studied by Mössbauer spectroscopy. The material was quite inhomogeneous, consisting of light brown and dark brown concretions of up to about a centimeter in size, and a sandy fraction. Mössbauer spectra at ambient temperature and at 4.2 K were taken of the two kinds of concretions and the sandy fraction. The concretions contain iron mainly as goethite with only a few percent of hematite. The sandy fraction contains goethite and hematite in roughly equal amounts and a minor fraction of divalent iron that splits magnetically at 4.2 K and may be an impure kind of siderite.