Pyrite

specimen number:
9892065

location:
Buick Mine, Viburnum Trend, Iron Co., Missouri, USA

description:
Fine old time example from the original find of this material in the 1970s. A loose complete all around double terminated crystal grouping of pyrite, these elongated crystals and often referred to as pyrite bars. In great condition.

The Buick Mine, located along the prolific Viburnum Trend in Iron County, Missouri, was developed as a joint venture by AMAX and Homestake Mining, with underground production commencing in the late 1960s (circa 1969) and continuing operations for decades before eventually winding down. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within the Cambrian-aged Bonneterre Dolomite along the flanks of the Precambrian St. Francois Mountains, consisting primarily of sediment-hosted lead-zinc-copper sulfide mineralization localized within extensive solution-collapse breccia zones. The mine became internationally famous among mineral collectors for a unique discovery in the mid-1970s (frequently cited around 1974 to 1975) yielding rare "pyrite bars". These exceptional specimens feature highly lustrous, elongated, brass-yellow cubic pyrite crystals stretched dramatically along a single axis to form slender, bar-shaped or needle-like habits with square cross-sections, occasionally found as twinned or doubly-terminated formations.

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