fluorite , quartz but what is this black crystals, tabular yellowish and shiny gold?

desertmoons

Bronze Member
Apr 16, 2008
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Hi, I think I have identified a quartz and a fluorite specimen. But, what is this other rock? It has black crystals and looks like it has been spray painted in gold.A thin layer of that gold like stuff covers a good portion of the rock. Iron pyrite I assume? The rock seems pretty heavy. What would those black shiny crystals be? And the thing tabular ones...

Thanks for any thoughts.
 

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I found a black crystal similar to yours, though mine were a lot smaller. Couldn't ID it. Nice smoky quartz I wanna go where you went!
 

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Nice minerals! I see fluorite which has cubic crystals. I see quartz w/ impurities (smoky quartz). Last, one looks like some kind of matrix of hematite, pyrite, and quartz maybe. The tabular/cubic crystals is iron sulfide (pyrite), some can be elongated. The black/steel gray coating is iron oxide (hematite). That quartz formed on the surface by contact metamorphism, maybe. I'm not real sure what it is by the pictures. Interesting, thanks for sharing!
 

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The black stuff sure looks interesting, can you do a streak test?
As a first impression I'm thinking sphalerite or a related sulphide.
 

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Thank you! I need to pick up a tile and i will do a streak test. It is an interesting rock. Thanks again all.
 

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I agree with Eu Citizen,the black crystals look like sphalerite (zinc sulphide) sometimes associated with galena (lead sulphide)
 

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