Pyrite (SUL-0045)

specimen number:
9273060

location:
Ampliacion a Victoria Mine, Navajun, La Rioja, Spain

description:
An aesthetic grouping of two sharp cubic lustrous pyrite crystals. This most certainly has been repaired, the piece is in perfect condition all around with no points of attachment.

The Ampliacion a Victoria mine, located near the village of Navajun in the Alcarama mountain range of La Rioja, Spain, is an active quarry globally celebrated for producing the world's finest, mirror-lustrous cubic pyrite specimens. Geologically, the deposit is hosted within Cretaceous-aged marl strata of the Urbion Group, where low-grade hydrothermal metamorphism mobilized sulfur into iron-rich sediments, allowing perfect, brass-yellow pyrite cubes to crystallize inside a soft, clay-rich matrix. While localized mining for base metals occurred in the broader region for centuries, the specific pyrite-bearing potential of this site was first recognized in 1965 by Pedro Ansorena Garret during prospecting. Formal commercial exploitation under the official Ampliacion a Victoria concession was granted on May 2, 1983, transitioning the site from historical base metal exploration into a highly specialized operation dedicated almost exclusively to the careful, manual extraction of pristine mineral specimens for collectors and museums.

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