Shiny mineral found in a Taif mountain

Fatimah Muhammad THE Saudi Geology Survey (SGS) sent a team of experts to investigate reports on social media regarding the presence of gold deposits in a Taif mountain. An SGS spokesman said on Thursday that their specialists who went to the location and investigated it took samples of shining pieces of rock to run thorough tests in SGS labs. The results of the tests proved that the reports were false. According to the SGS spokesman, the shiny substance that deceived the public was pyrite, a yellow mineral consisting of iron disulfide and typically occurring as intersecting cubic crystals. Commonly known as the fool’s gold, pyrite is found in volcanic rocks that undergo chemical changes due to exposure to high temperature. People of Taif reacted differently to the rumor. Some of them kept their cool, while many people drove to the location and filled bags of different sizes with rocks thinking they could extract the precious metal from them. Construction workers building a new road in southeast Taif found the shiny pyrite while cutting through the mountain and thought it was gold. As soon as the news reached the public, large groups of people came to the location hoping to take their share but police took the matter under control and cordoned off the area.