By Chisom Ibemere
Pyrite or iron pyrite is popular as fool’s gold. It is an iron sulphide and the most abundant sulphide mineral.
Pyrite has a superficial similarity with gold due to its metallic lustre and pale brass-yellow colour. Some pyrites that may be seen in coal are referred to as brass, brazzle as well as brazil. The word pyrite is gotten from the Greek pyritēs lithos, meaning, ‘stone or mineral which strikes fire’, in turn from pyr, ‘fire’.
Pyrite may be seen in association with other sulphides or oxides in quartz veins, sedimentary rock, and metamorphic rock, and also in coal beds and as a replacement mineral in fossils. It can also be found in the sclerites of scaly-foot gastropods.
Pyrites can also be seen in association with small amount of gold despites its nickname, fool’s gold. It is also seen in association with gold and arsenic which result from couples substitution. It has a lot of applications. It is used with flintstone by Kaurna in South Australia with tinder made of steingbark to start fire. It is also used in the manufacture of ferrous sulphate. It is used commercially for the production of sulphur dioxide and sulphuric acid.
Pyrite is believed to be an abundant, non-toxic, inexpensive material in low-cost photovoltaic solar panels. Synthetic iron sulphide is used with copper sulphide in the production of photovoltaic material. Efforts are being put in place to produce thin film solar cells that is entirely made of pyrite.
Pyrites are used in the production of marcasite jewellery. Cattierite, vaesite, hauerite and sperrylite have similar strict and also belongs to the group of pyrite.
Pyrite remains the most common sulphide minerals abundance in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. It is an accessory mineral in igneous rocks and occasionally occurs as larger masses arising from an immiscible sulphide phase in the original magma. It also occurs in metamorphic rocks as a product of contact metamorphism. It also forms as a high-temperature hydrothermal mineral, though mostly forms at lower temperatures.
Pyrite occurs both as a primary mineral, present in the original sediments, and as a secondary mineral, deposited during diagenesis. Pyrite and marcasite commonly occur as replacement pseudomorphs after fossils in black shale and other sedimentary rocks formed under reducing environmental conditions.
Pyrite is a basic accessory mineral in shale, which is formed by precipitation from anoxic seawater, and coal beds often contain significant pyrite.
Pyrite at first glance may seem worthless but widely used in the chemical industry, and a new discovery suggests fool’s gold is much more valuable than its name suggests.
