• A mineral specimen covered with blade-like growth composed of small bumpy spots of siderite, with golden tan coloration.
  • The base of the mineral, composed of several dark tapered hexagonal barrel forms. There are small spot yellow-tan minerals along planes on the outside, and they are covered with a filmy colorless layer of mineral growth.
  • Side view with rough opaque bumpy siderite, a light tan and more vibrant golden color. It grows on a heavy dark base spotted with light mineral
  • The mineral held in indirect sunlight, fairly large in the hand with light golden color, fully opaque
  • Another angle of the specimen, with almost web-like growth of the golden siderite crossing the surface.
  • Another view of the textured blade-like siderite growth, rough as if composed of small crystals.
  • Dark hexagonal crystals in a fanning growth forming the base of the piece, upside down with the siderite on the bottom.
  • Detail of the surface covered with small melted-looking mineral spots, and with a pyrite cube near the center of the image.
  • Detail of the surface texture that looks glossy as if wet, coated in a lustrous colorless mineral
  • Scale image of the piece on a measuring mat, measuring a bit over four inches long and almost two and a half inches wide.
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Siderite on pyrite pseudomorph

Siderite on pyrite pseudomorph

$40.00 USD
$40.00 USD
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Locale: 10 Silicate ore body, Potosí Mine, Santa Eulalia, Chihuahua, Mexico

Approx dimensions: 4 x 2.25 x 2.25"

Approx weight: 608g (1 1/3 lb)

 

This specimen from the Potosí Mine has orange-yellow siderite on a heavy base. The siderite has formed blade-like growth criss-crossing the surface, with small pyrite crystals sprinkled throughout.

The heavy base is composed of tapered hexagonal barrel crystals. The large hexagonal formation is characteristic of pyrrhotite, a mineral that looks quite similar to pyrite. Pyrite from the Potosí Mine is known to pseudomorph after pyrrhotite in this hexagonal formation, which appears to have occurred with this specimen. Pyrrhotite is supposed to have some slight magnetism, and this piece—like pyrite—does not seem to.

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