Description
Fool’s gold with metallic luster. Bold and cubic. Specs: Weight 10-20 carats. Pyrite is usually found associated with other sulfides or oxides in quartz veins, sedimentary rock, and metamorphic rock, as well as in coal beds and as a replacement mineral in fossils, but has also been identified in the sclerites of scaly-foot gastropods. Despite being nicknamed “fool’s gold”, pyrite is sometimes found in association with small quantities of gold. A substantial proportion of the gold is “invisible gold” incorporated into the pyrite. It has been suggested that the presence of both gold and arsenic is a case of coupled substitution but as of 1997 the chemical state of the gold remained controversial.
