Itabira

Brazil exports hundreds of millions of tons of this rock a year under a Tupi name meaning shining stone.

Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege introduced the term in his 1822 Geognostisches Gemälde von Brasilien for the iron bearing rock of Minas Gerais. Sources differ over whether the eponym is Itabira in the east of the state or Itabirito near Ouro Preto, both named from the Tupi for raised or shining stone. The rock is the ore of the Quadrilátero Ferrífero, the iron quadrangle that is one of the world's great iron districts.