Gold with Pyrite

The mountainous region of Roşia Montană in north-west Romania has been mined for Native Gold and other metals since the Roman occupation and likely back into the Bronze Age.  This cabinet specimen is a delightful example of crystallised Native Gold, richly embedded in and folded over a micro-drusy bed of Calcite crystals dusted in almost equally tiny Pyrite crystals, the latter forming modified cubes and pyritohedrons, but magnification is required to see these habits.  As is characteristic from this locality, the Native Gold is a buttery pale-yellow gold, indicating a high percentage of Gold.  Native Gold usually forms a natural alloy with silver and also copper, if these present in the system.  The native elements gold, silver and copper form a continuous miscible series with each other.  The Native Gold occurs as thin sheets which fold and twist over the matrix surface.  Low magnification reveals superb, crystallised surfaces covering the Native Gold sheets, often with triangular growth patterns, manifesting from the Gold’s isometric (cubic) crystallography.  A magnificent Native Gold with micro-Pyrite and Calcite from Roşia Montană.