'PYRITE SUN' - USA
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PYRITE CRYSTALS
(‘PYRITE SUN’)
Sparta, Randolph County, Illinois, U.S.A.
One of the most unusual varieties of pyrite (‘fools gold’) is the disc-shaped pyrite ‘suns’ from the coal mines of Illinois. They occur in the black shale between the coal seams and are usually collected from the mine tips.
They appear to be flattened concretions of pyrite that have crystallised radially along the bedding planes.
Pyrite suns have become increasingly rare over the last twenty years as the coal mines have closed and the mine tips reclaimed.
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Size: 8 centimetres diameter x 0.5 centimetres thick
Weight: 113 grams
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