The Mineral that Loves April Fools
Many Quartz colours contain a Gold vein running across. This Gold vein is obviously not made up of real Gold (the precious metal used in jewellery), because if that was the case, then Quartz slabs will shoot up in cost and value!
Many different minerals can be used to form the vein pigments, such as Cerrusite, Augelite, Calcopyrite and many others. However, another very common way of producing a Gold vein pigment in Quartz is to use Pyrite – which is also known as Fool’s Gold, because it looks like the expensive Gold metal, but it is in fact not a precious mineral. Chemically, Pyrite is formed of Iron Sulphide; the Iron atoms give it a metallic shiny effect whilst the Sulphur contents cause the yellowish pigmentation.
When this Pyrite is added into Quartz, it gives off a very elegant and lustrous look to the stone, and this explains why some of our colours such as Calacatta Gold, Volga, Rio, Tala, Statuario Tigris and a few more are very common and preferred amongst customers…because of that perfect Golden vein that strikes across.
