Pyrite may once have disappointed prospectors looking for nuggets. But modern miners have learned to love it
FOOL’S GOLD—pyrite, to give its proper name—may once have disappointed prospectors looking for nuggets. But modern miners have learned to love it, because inside its crystal lattice of iron and sulphur there is often actual gold to be found.
To a large extent, however, this extraction process is flying blind. That is because it has never been properly established quite how the gold is lodged in the pyrite. One theory is that it forms tiny inclusions—nanonuggets, so to speak. Another is that it is integrated, atom by atom, within the crystal, thus forming a kind of iron-sulphur-gold alloy.
Dr Timms suspects this concentration happens when foreign atoms, which because of their odd sizes do not fit properly into the crystal, migrate through the lattice to relieve tensions caused when it is bent. That migration herds them towards particular places, and when there are enough of them in such a place the lattice buckles and the tension is released.
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