A cluster of sharp, mirror-bright pyrite crystals out of the Peruvian Andes.
The mine most of this material comes from sits above 4,000 metres in Ancash. It was found in 1721, worked, abandoned, and left alone for well over two centuries before being reopened in the 1960s. A Japanese company bought it in 1964 and still runs it today, for lead and zinc.
The pyrite is a by-product. Nobody is mining for it, and it has no real value as ore next to what they are actually extracting, yet the mine is thought to have produced more mineral specimens by weight than any other single mine anywhere. Everything on this piece came up a shaft because someone decided it was worth more intact than crushed.
Mineral: Epidote (calcium aluminium iron silicate) with quartz (silicon dioxide, SiO₂)
Crystal system: Epidote monoclinic, quartz trigonal
Origin: Hakkâri Province, Turkey
Hardness: 6 to 7 on the Mohs scale; durable overall, though slender epidote crystals snap if knocked
Treatment: None
Dimensions: 22 x 4.8 x 22 cm
Weight: 2.11 kg
You will receive the exact piece photographed.