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Hematite vs Pyrite: Iron Oxide or Iron Sulfide?

By Digital Towns Crystals · Last reviewed October 8, 2026

Short answer: rub a corner on the back of a white tile. Hematite leaves a red to reddish brown powder, whatever color the piece looks; pyrite leaves a black powder tinged green or brown. On fresh surfaces pyrite is brass yellow and often grows in striated cubes, while hematite is steel gray, black or silvery and grows as plates, rosettes or rounded masses. They weigh about the same and are similarly hard, so the streak does the real work.

How can the same rock hold both?

Both are iron minerals, and they often grow side by side. Geology.com's pyrite article illustrates pyrite with hematite from Rio Marina on the Isle of Elba, a classic locality for both, and Minerals.net lists hematite among pyrite's common companions. On a specimen like that, the brassy cubes are pyrite and the dark, lustrous plates around them are hematite, and a single label covers only one of them.

The difference is chemical. Hematite is an oxide, Fe2O3, and Webmineral gives it 69.94 percent iron by weight. Pyrite is a sulfide, FeS2, which Webmineral breaks down as 46.55 percent iron and 53.45 percent sulfur. That sulfur explains most of what follows: pyrite's color, its streak, and its habit of slowly decaying in damp air, while hematite is already as oxidized as iron gets at the surface.

How do the two compare on paper?

Property Hematite Pyrite
Formula Fe2O3 (iron oxide) FeS2 (iron sulfide)
Crystal system Trigonal Isometric (cubic)
Color on fresh surface Steel gray, black, silver; red when earthy Pale brass yellow
Streak Red to reddish brown Greenish black to brownish black
Luster Metallic, submetallic or earthy Metallic
Mohs hardness 5 to 6.5 6 to 6.5
Specific gravity 5.0 to 5.3 4.9 to 5.2
Typical habits Plates, rosettes, kidney ore, glittering specularite Cubes with striations, pyritohedra, octahedra, clusters
Magnet (natural material) No pull; slightly paramagnetic Nonmagnetic
Stability in damp air Stable Can oxidize and decay

Sources: Geology.com, hematite, Geology.com, pyrite, and Minerals.net. The hardness and density columns overlap almost completely, which is why neither a scratch test nor a scale is worth much here.

How do you run the streak test properly?

Use the unglazed back of a bathroom tile or a proper streak plate. Press a corner of the specimen down firmly and drag it a centimeter or two. Geology.com's streak guide explains why this works so well for hematite: specimens can be black, red, brown or silver, yet every one leaves a streak with a reddish color. The same guide's opening photo shows pyrite leaving a black streak.

Three points make the test reliable:

  1. Blow off the loose bits. Hard, brittle minerals shed glittering fragments rather than powder, especially metallic hematite. Tap the plate and look at the fine smear underneath.
  2. Look at the edge of the streak in daylight. Pyrite's black has a faint green tint where the powder thins out; hematite's thins to rusty red.
  3. Do not streak the face of a good specimen. Use the underside or a rough spot. The plate is harder than both minerals, so it will mark them.

If the powder is yellow-brown rather than red, think of goethite or limonite, not hematite. Minerals.net on goethite lists its streak as brownish yellow to yellow.

Other clues, from most to least useful

Color on a fresh surface

Pyrite is brass yellow, though Geology.com notes it often tarnishes to dull brass, and Minerals.net says some specimens develop a yellow-brown or iridescent film on exposed faces. Hematite is gray to black with a metallic or submetallic shine. A clean break settles any doubt caused by tarnish.

Crystal shape

Pyrite crystallizes in the cubic system and is famous for cubes with fine parallel grooves, plus pyritohedra and octahedra. Minerals.net adds that its cubes often form penetration twins. Hematite never makes striated cubes. It forms flat hexagonal plates, the rosettes called iron roses, the rounded "kidney ore" that Geology.com describes growing freely in cavities, and specularite, which looks like a rock made of shiny mica flakes but streaks red.

The magnet

Weak, but worth knowing. Geology.com states that hematite is not magnetic and should not respond to a common magnet, though many specimens contain enough magnetite to be attracted. Minerals.net calls hematite paramagnetic, only slightly attracted, and the International Gem Society lists pyrite as nonmagnetic. Webmineral notes that both become magnetic after heating. A strong snap to a fridge magnet points away from natural hematite toward magnetite or man-made "hematine", the subject of our magnetic hematite guide.

Hardness and weight

Not decisive. Both scratch glass with effort and both feel about twice as heavy as quartz. Webmineral gives pyrite 5.01 and hematite 5.30, a gap of about 6 percent, which a careful water weighing can pick up on solid material but a hand cannot.

When pyrite turns into iron oxide

Pyrite is unstable where air and water reach it. Geology.com explains that it oxidizes in air and moisture, producing acids and a change in volume; that is why crushed stone for concrete must be free of pyrite, and why pyrite in foundations damages floors and pavement. The same chemistry plays out in a mineral cabinet as slow crumbling and acid damage to labels, covered in our planned pyrite decay care guide.

The end products are iron oxides and hydroxides, which produces some confusing specimens. Geology.com's limonite page shows a limonite pseudomorph after pyrite that keeps the original cube and its striations. A rusty brown "pyrite cube" with a yellow-brown streak is one of these: the shape is pyrite, the substance is not. Rainbow pyrite is an earlier stage. Minerals.net describes it as iridescent pyrite from the Volga River region of Russia, usually in spherical concretions with internal shrinkage cracks, with the iridescence caused by oxidation.

Hematite has no such problem. It is stable in ordinary indoor conditions and needs no special storage beyond protection from knocks.

Where do collector pieces come from?

For pyrite, Minerals.net names the Huaron Mining District of Peru for enormous deposits of small crystal clusters, along with Quiruvilca and Huanzala, and says most amateur collector pyrite comes from Peru. The cubes from Navajún in La Rioja, Spain are the other famous source, and Minerals.net warns that many of those cubes have fallen out of their matrix and been glued back in. Elba is the classic home of pyritohedra. The Peru origins guide covers that country's mines.

For hematite, the hematite guide lists the main specimen localities, from Minas Gerais and Bahia in Brazil to Cumbria and Elba. Industrially the two minerals have opposite roles: Geology.com notes that iron is typically obtained from oxide ores such as hematite and magnetite, not from pyrite, because the sulfur weakens the metal.

What about polished pieces and jewelry?

Polished spheres, hearts and tumbles are the hard case, because the shape is gone and both are metallic. Color is your first guide: polished pyrite is gold-brass, polished hematite is gunmetal to black. Then streak an unpolished spot or the drill hole of a bead.

Jewelry has its own naming tangle. The IGS notes that "marcasite" stones in jewelry are frequently pyrite, because pyrite is the more stable of the two iron sulfides. Hematite beads, by contrast, are often not hematite at all but the magnetic man-made material described above.

Price, and which to buy

Both are inexpensive minerals. Pyrite prices rise with sharp, bright, undamaged cubes, matrix specimens with original placement, and size; a dull or powdery surface signals decay and should lower the price. Hematite prices rise for well-formed iron roses, lustrous plates, and specimens with a documented locality. Tumbled hematite is among the cheapest metallic stones sold.

For a cube or a sparkling cluster that stays gold, buy pyrite and keep it dry. For a dark, heavy, durable stone to handle or carry, hematite is the more forgiving choice. In crystal traditions, pyrite is associated with abundance and hematite with steadiness; those are customs, not mineral properties.

Choosing hematite or pyrite

Look closely at listing photos for tarnish, white powder or cracks on pyrite, and for chips on polished hematite. Ask where the piece was mined, and whether a matrix specimen has been repaired. For anything sold as hematite that also claims strong magnetism, assume it is manufactured.

  • Hematite: small polished hematite pieces; streak the back of a tile with one and compare the red-brown powder against pyrite's.
  • Cubic Pyrite Cluster (C Grade) Peru: Peruvian cubic pyrite at an entry grade, enough crystal faces to see striations and the brass color.
  • Pyrite Cluster: unpolished natural clusters from Peru; check photos for bright, untarnished faces and no dust in the crevices.
  • Polished pyrite spheres, eggs and hearts: Peruvian pyrite polished into shapes of 40 to 65 mm and 120 to 320 grams, the form most easily confused with hematite.
  • Rainbow pyrite from Ulyanovsk, Russia: Volga region pyrite whose color comes from an oxidation film; keep it dry to preserve that surface.

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Frequently asked questions

Is pyrite a type of hematite?

No. Both contain iron, but pyrite is iron sulfide, FeS2, and hematite is iron oxide, Fe2O3. They belong to different mineral classes, crystallize in different systems and behave differently in damp air. Pyrite can weather into iron oxides over time, which is why rusty cubes that keep pyrite's shape sometimes turn up.

What color is pyrite streak compared with hematite streak?

Pyrite leaves a greenish black to brownish black streak. Hematite leaves red to reddish brown, even when the specimen itself looks silver or black. If the streak is yellow-brown, the piece is more likely goethite or limonite, often replacing pyrite, than either hematite or fresh pyrite.

Is hematite or pyrite magnetic?

Natural pieces of either barely respond to a magnet. Hematite is slightly paramagnetic and pyrite is nonmagnetic. A hematite specimen with magnetite inside may be attracted, and both minerals become magnetic after strong heating. Beads that snap firmly to a magnet are almost always the man-made material sold as magnetic hematite.

Why is my pyrite turning brown or powdery?

It is oxidizing. Pyrite reacts with oxygen and moisture, forming iron sulfates, iron oxides and acid. Early signs are a dull or rusty film; later stages bring white or yellow powder and spreading cracks. Move it somewhere dry, keep it away from other specimens and labels, and do not wash it.

Can hematite and pyrite be in the same specimen?

Yes. They often form together in ore deposits. Geology.com illustrates pyrite with hematite from Rio Marina on Elba, and Minerals.net lists hematite among pyrite's usual companions. Brassy, striated cubes on such a piece are pyrite; dark gray plates or masses with a red streak are hematite.

Sources