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| Here's an intriguing 3-color piece,
with willemite (green), hydrozincite (blue), and an unidentified mineral which I think may be fluorescent zincite or smithsonite (cream color). I could be way off base on that last one, but no one I've showed it to has been sure of what it is. Fluorescent zincite does exist but is rare; I don't know about smithsonite, but I'd expect it as a weathering product of zinc ores. There's also probably aragonite on this rock. I forget whether this specimen phosphoresced or not. The unknown mineral's fluorescence doesn't show up too well in the photograph, but it's brighter in real life. I need to get around to re-photographing the specimen in higher resolution. The colors also appear a bit washed-out in the photo. It is slightly more vibrant in real life, but the mystery mineral's fluorescence is still fairly subtle and hard to capture on film. I found this in the Passaic Pit during Sterling Hill's fall 1999 night dig. In visible light, it's readily apparent that the specimen contains a great deal of franklinite and zincite. The hydrozincite and the unidentified mineral appear as a coating on one face. Specimen is about 6 or 7 inches long. Back |