Zincite
Mineral ZnO
Also called Red zinc ore
About it
Natural crystals are rare; Franklin and Sterling Hill, New Jersey, give deep red grains in white calcite with black franklinite. The bright orange, yellow, and green crystals sold widely are furnace-grown by-products from Poland.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Oxide, wurtzite group
- Formula
- ZnO
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 4
- Specific gravity
- 5.64–5.68
- Streak
- orange-yellow
- Lustre
- adamantine (diamond-like), resinous
- Crystal system
- Hexagonal
- Colours
- deep red, orange-red, orange, yellow
- Transparency
- translucent, transparent
- Cleavage and fracture
- perfect prismatic; conchoidal fracture
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.