Del Air's new "Mineral of the Month" feature.

The Del Air Rockhounds Club is proud to present to it's members and all interested guests, a brand new feature of the club.....Drum roll please........."The Del Air Mineral of the Month". Beginning in April of this year, we will be presenting a different featured mineral each month. A detailed description along with photos will be presented here on your blog as well as in the bulletin each month. There will also be a brief educational presentation at each months general meeting along with a color handout detailing the featured mineral. All members and guests are encouraged to bring specimens of the featured mineral from their own collections in order to help demonstrate visual differences such as shape, color, crystal structure and so on. (Don't worry....you won't have to speak in front of the crowd if you bring in a specimen....unless, of course you want to.) So make sure you read your bulletins and check out the blog each month so you will be able to bring in your versions of the featured mineral. The write up was not completed in time to make it into the April bulletin so I will e-mail the blog to all members. Bob Dearborn has already given you all a brief heads-up via e-mail.

So without further ado.....Del Air Rockhounds Club proudly presents our very first "Mineral of the Month" for April 2008

"P Y R I T E"

Named in antiquity from the Greek word "pyros" meaning "fire" because of the sparks coming from it when struck with another mineral or metal object. Pyrite is a very common mineral, found in a wide variety of geologic formations, from sedimentary deposits to hydrothermal veins and as a constituent of many metamorphic rocks. Commonly called "fool's gold" due its brassy-yellow color but it is much less dense (lighter) but harder than gold and cannot be scratched by a fingernail or knife. This mineral forms as cubic, pyritohedral, or octahedral crystals. Twinning is common. The crystal faces are striated. Pyrite can be massive, granular, reniform, stalactitic, botryoidal and modular. Fine crystals often occur with sphalerite and other sulfides.

Its chemical properties are as follows:

Mineral Group......................Sulfides

Chemical formula................FeS2
Crystal system.....................Isometric
Color....................................Brassy-yellow
Hardness.............................6 to 6 &1/2
Luster...................................Metallic
Transparency......................Opaque
Streak..................................Greenish-black
Tenacity...............................Brittle
Cleavage.............................Poor/indistinct
Fracture...............................Irregular/uneven, conchoidal