Gold Star Pins

Pyrite is a very common mineral found almost everywhere in sedimentary and metamorphic formations. Gold is an extremely popular metal and element, given high value due to its rarity and variation in uses. Because of the similarity in their appearances, many people mistake gold for pyrite, which is why pyrite has earned the nickname "fools gold". The two may look the same from far away, but looking closely, and applying some very easy mineralogical tests, the differences are very obvious.

Pyrite - An Iron Sulfide

One of the first common mistakes in identifying pyrite is that it is a metal, which it is not. A metal must be composed of metal elements, like gold (Au), silver (Ag) or copper (Cu). Metals are also called ore minerals. Pyrite is composed of two elements - one iron atom and two sulfur atoms- which is why it is called an iron sufide. Pyrite does have the metal iron in it, but since it is not all iron, it is not a metal. Some people also like to refer to pyrite as iron pyrite, but this is a bit redundant since the name pyrite already implies that iron is part of the chemical structure.