Learn about Arsenopyrite
steel-gray, mirror-bright prismatic crystals; prized for sculptural form and heft, with top localities (Panasqueira, Dalnegorsk, Yaogangxian) in…Arsenopyrite from Yaogangxian Mine, China
Yaogangxian arsenopyrite is one of the great modern examples of a species that collectors once tended to treat as an accessory. At this Hunan tungsten-tin mine, arsenopyrite can be the star: steel-gray to battleship-gray crystals in sharp prismatic wedges, flattened “diamond” forms, doubly terminated parallel groups, and chunky metallic plates that have the visual weight of ore and the geometry of display-quality crystallization. The best pieces are not merely “arsenopyrite present”; they show crisp, architectural crystals standing on quartz, muscovite, fluorite, or mixed sulfide matrix with enough contrast to read from across a cabinet.
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