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Mohs hardness: 5 - 6
Common uses today - Hematite is the main ore of iron and is commonly used in pigments for it's red coloration.
Colorado produces some wonderful hematite after siderite (pictured above) pseudomorphs which means one mineral has replaced the last mineral. Specimens such as this are collected as rather unique hematite specimens.
Colorado Hematite after Siderite - pictures in the CP forums.
From Wikipedia - Hematite
"Hematite is a mineral, colored black to steel or silver-gray, brown to reddish brown, or red. It is mined as the main ore of iron. Varieties include kidney ore, martite (pseudomorphs after magnetite), iron rose and specularite (specular hematite). While the forms of hematite vary, they all have a rust-red streak. hematite crystals can also occur as a secondary mineral formed by weathering processes in soil, and along with other iron oxides or oxyhydroxides such as goethite, is responsible for the red color of many tropical, ancient, or otherwise highly weathered soils.
Hematite on Mars - The spectral signature of hematite was seen on the planet Mars by the infrared spectrometer on the NASA Mars Global Surveyor ("MGS") and 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft in orbit around Mars."
Check out the Mindat.org database for detailed information about Hematite.
