PYRITE

Pyrite, also called Fool's Gold, is a distinctly golden colored mineral that contains a mixture of iron and sulfur.This specimen was selected because of its crystalline structure. This specimen was mined in peru.

 Weight 355 cts  app

Size 45x 34x31 mm app

. Pyrite can be found all over the world, and the sulfur it contains was historically extracted for a variety of industrial processes. The stone sometimes contains trace amounts of gold, but not usually enough to make it valuable, and it is also sometimes used in jewelry, under the label of marcasite. The origin of the name for the stone is Greek; pyrite means “fire stone” and is a reference to its ancient use to start fires by striking it against another rock to create sparks.

Pyrite has a metallic sheen and a striking crystalline structure. Some pyrites come in other shapes, such as rounds, but the most common form resembles a jumbled pile of crystals with thin lines or striations along their faces. Pyrite is very brittle, and shatters easily along the joins of the crystals. Unlike gold, pyrite is not workable. Iron composes approximately 46% of the mineral, with the remainder made up by sulfur and trace impurities such as gold, nickel, arsenic, and copper.