Pyrite

Pyrite, often mistaken as ‘Fool’s Gold’ is the most admired gemstone among rock collectors. The shimmering golden luster is often misunderstood by the general public as gold. The unique crystalline structure is very easily found on the earth’s crust in a number of forms and varieties.

Pyrite has rich iron content but is never treated as an important source of that metal because of the abundance of hematite and magnetite. But pyrite has been regularly mined for its sulfur content. It played an important role as a source of sulfur during the Second World War. Pyrite served to be an important source of sulfur which was fast dying out due to its huge requirements.

The sulfur extracted from pyrite was used to produce sulfuric acid, an essential chemical for different industrial processes. Pyrites are used in oscillator circuits as radio detectors and can show negative resistance. Bravoite is the name given to a variety of pyrite which has 20 percent nickel besides the usual sulfur.

Pyrites are opaque, brittle crystals with a hardness of about 6 to 6.5 generally appearing in cubes. Pyrites because of their physical property are used in jewelries like necklaces and bracelets. There is sometimes confusion because of the use of the name marcasite that is used as jewelry trade name.

The term marcasite is generally applied to small polished and faceted stones which are decorated with sterling silver and though they are called as marcasite they are basically pyrites. Thus, the versatile gemstone always finds its use in the different fields and definitely lives up to its Greek meaning- ‘fire’.