Pyrite

specimen number:
2062428

location:
Spruce Claim, King Co., Washington, USA

description:
Impressive large golden metallic lustrous barite crystal with minor quartz. This has a slightly iridescence. In fine condition. This exhibits diploid faces and was collected in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

The Spruce Claim (including the historic Spruce 16 claim) along the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River in King County, Washington, is not a traditional commercial ore mine, but rather a world-renowned mineral specimen locality. Initial mining exploration in the area began in the 1950s under companies like Bear Creek Mining, with dedicated specimen mining starting in the late 1970s and continuing through successive operators such as What on Earth Inc., Bob Jackson, and Spruce Collectors LLC. Geologically, the deposit is situated within the Snoqualmie Batholith (dating to the late Oligocene and early Miocene epochs). It features hydrothermal pocket systems formed within granodiorite-hosted intrusive breccia pipes, where ascending volatile-rich fluids fractured the cooling rock and later precipitated brilliant quartz crystals, metallic sulfides like pyrite, and late-stage carbonate and sulfate minerals including ankerite, calcite, and barite.

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