The Probert Encyclopaedia of Rocks & Minerals

PYRITE

Pyrite is one of the most common minerals. It is a shiny yellow mineral resembling gold, whence it's name 'fool's gold' formed from cooling magma and is found as an igneous segregation and also in metamorphic rocks and as vein deposits. Often it is found in sedimentary rocks being both primary and secondary in origin. Pyrite is often mined for the gold or silver associated with it. Pyrite has the formulae FeS2 and a relative hardness of 7. During the Second World War pyrite was mined in the USA for its sulphur which was used to produce sulphuric acid.
Research Pyrite