Spanish Pyrite from San Román de Cameros

San Román de Cameros lies in La Rioja, Spain, within the Cameros Basin. La Rioja is world-famous for pyrite, and most people think of Navajún’s near-perfect cubes. Pyrite in the Cameros Basin, according to research, is linked to earlier sedimentary pyrite being remobilized and recrystallized during the basin’s hydrothermal metamorphism, giving rise to crystals of varied form.

Here the pyrite is preserved with its host rock. The crystals are a brassy silver-gold with a bright metallic luster, in cubes, pyritohedra and other forms, with flat, clean faces, sitting securely on dark gray matrix, the rugged rock set sharply against the refined crystals.