Diopside with Pyrite

Diopside with Pyrite from Mount Elliott Mine, Selwyn District, Queensland, Australia, measuring 79 × 55 × 22 mm and weighing 139 grams. This association brings a silicate mineral together with an iron sulphide. The precise mine and district attribution make it a useful subject for a Queensland locality collection as well as a systematic mineral group.

Diopside is a calcium-magnesium member of the pyroxene family. Pyrite, by contrast, is iron sulphide, so the recorded pairing spans two quite different chemical classes. Diopside is associated with several high-temperature geological environments, including altered calcium-rich rocks, making its pairing with a sulphide an interesting point of comparison within a silicate collection.

Dark, angular crystal groups share the face with smaller brassy reflective areas. The contrast is more subtle than a brightly coloured mineral association, but it becomes quite lively as the light moves across the surface. Both the larger forms and the fine metallic points deserve attention, giving the eye different scales of detail within the same piece. The provenance includes the David Vince Collection and Down Under Minerals. These connections preserve the specimen's collecting and dealer history alongside its Queensland source. It is an engaging piece for someone who likes to connect mineral families rather than keep them entirely separate, allowing a pyroxene and a sulphide to be considered together within one documented locality specimen.