Most prospectors learn early about pyrite or fool’s gold. But is pyrite always bad news for the prospector? No! the truth is that it can be an excellent indicator mineral for gold and in some cases, it does contain small amounts of gold. Pyrite is distinguished from gold by brittleness a piece of gold hit with a hammer will flatten out while a piece of pyrite hit with a hammer will shatter into little bits. Normally pyrite only tricks prospectors when it is fresh and unweathered as it quickly rusts on exposure to rain and air, turning brown in color. Pyrite can be both a valuable ore mineral or a gangue (waste) mineral depending on the particular mineral occurrence. Where pyrite has significant gold, it is saved and processed for extraction. Where it is barren, it is treated as waste. In many mines, part of the gold is free milling, and part is bound up inside the pyrite crystal. The gold contained in the pyrite is not easily separated out, but the normal process is to recover the gold by fine crushing and leaching the ore using cyanide. The gold found within the pyrite occurs as tiny inclusions of metallic gold within the pyrite. There are a huge number of different gold ore types which are closely associated with pyrite, so it can be an excellent indicator mineral.
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