Cubic Pyrite (2) Crystals Raw Minerals Stones Rocks Collecting Plexiglas Box

Description

Origin : Spain

Cubic Natural Pyrite 10-20 gr - edge cm 1-2 Raw Minerals Crystals Stones Rocks for Collection, extra quality.
The mineral may occur in individual cubes or cubic interpenetrating.
Also available tumbled, rough, in plexiglias box, nodule and laminar, at this link.

Pyrite is a mineral that belongs to the sulphides and is an iron disulphide, formed by the anion S2−, or rather by the bridge −S–S−, and by the ferrous cation Fe2+, united with a predominantly ionic bond; it has no magnetic properties.
It takes its name from the Greek term πῦρ pyr (fire) as it produces sparks when struck with a piece of metal. Because of its golden color it was known in the past as fool's gold; if heated to a flame it emits a mixture of sulphides with the classic smell of rotten eggs.
The crystalline habit occurs in cubic, pentagonododecahedral and octahedral crystals, sometimes with alternate faces longitudinally striated (triglyphous striations).
Geminations of various types are quite frequent, among which the so-called 'iron cross', resulting from the twinning of two interpenetrating pentagonododecahedrons.
The crystals are often covered with a patina of limonite. Pyrite is also found as a replacement mineral in many fossils, sedimented in an oxygen-poor environment.
It can be found in all types of rock, but more commonly it has a genesis that can be magmatic of the hydrothermal type, or sedimentary. Italy has discrete deposits of this mineral, mainly in Piedmont and Tuscany, in the area of the Metalliferous Hills in the Province of Grosseto, including the island of Elba, today no longer exploited at an industrial level for the extraction of iron. The extraction of iron is in fact disadvantageous, since traces of sulfur remain in the extracted iron. It oxidizes very easily and for this reason it is used to produce sulfuric acid. It also presents the phenomenon of pseudomorphosis.
For many years, however, it was the main mineral for the production of sulfuric acid. The ashes were used in times of scarcity of iron ore, for the iron and steel industry, otherwise they were accumulated in huge deposits. For ecological reasons, the legislation imposed their disposal.
Pyrite, when accompanied by traces of gold, auriferous pyrite, can be used for gold mining.
Bravoite is a nickel-rich variety of pyrite.