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Pyrite, Hematite and Iron Ores
Pyrite, Hematite and Iron Ores
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Quartz Family: Amethyst, Citrine, Agate...
Quartz Family: Amethyst, Citrine, Agate...
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Pyrite, Hematite and Iron Ores
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Pyrite, Hematite and Iron Ores
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Minerals containing iron are called "iron ore". Some confusion is possible between them. They are all opaque, with a strong metallic luster and a specific gravity higher than 4.
Marcassite and Pyrite (also called marcassite's jeweler) are two iron sulfides having the same chemical formula (FeS2) but a different internal structure: pyrite crystallizes in the cubic system and marcassite in the orthorhombic one. They are so called polymorphs. Habits are usually a cube, hexahedron, octahedron, pyritohedron (special kind of 12 five-sided face figure) or tabular crystals, often gathered for marcassite. Striations can be seen on each side and they often present interpenetrated twins. Color is yellowish bronze. They have to be manipulated with a special care because their high rate of suffer can become toxic when heated or in contact with water. They both show an imperfect cleavage, have a SG slightly varying around 4.8 or 4.9 and a hardness of 6-6.5 on Mohs' scale. They occur in magmatic rocks, hydrothermal or sedimentary rocks and are mined in USA (Colorado), Italy (Elba), Greece, Spain, Sweden and South Africa (Transvaal).
Hematite is an iron oxide. Its chemical formula is Fe2O3 and it crystallizes in the trigonal system. Habits can be cubic or rhombohedric but are generally massive, compact or tabular. The color is blue-black or gray-black. It has a hardness of 6.5 on Mohs' scale and its SG range is from 4.95 to 5.28. It can be confused with hematite (but without its magnetic properties, although some hematite specimens found in Brazil seem to have) or psilomelane. It also can be used to imitate black pearls. It occurs in magmatic, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and is mined in USA (Minnesota), Italy (Elba), Russia (Oural) and Brazil (Minas Gerais).
Chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), which means "pyrite of copper", is a sulfide of copper and iron and is, in fact, an important copper ore. It crystallizes in the tetragonal system and it has a hardness of 3.5-4 on Mohs' scale. Its SG is near to 4.2. Its color is yellowish, deeper than pyrite color. It is mined all around the world.
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