mundic

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Cornish and mining usage: pyrite or arsenopyrite, especially when occurring as a sulfurous mineral in an ore

   The miners discarded rock rich in mundic because its arsenic made processing hazardous.

A Cornish mining term of uncertain origin, perhaps from Cornish men tek ('pretty stone'), an apt description of glittering pyrite. It later became a regional name for pyrite and arsenopyrite in metal ores.

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