Fluorite with Sphalerite
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Fluorite with Sphalerite from the Elmwood Mine, Carthage, Tennessee, U.S.A., measuring 56 × 35 × 42 mm and weighing 120 grams. A good combination piece from one of the standout localities of the Central Tennessee zinc district.
Fluorite, calcium fluoride CaF2, commonly accompanies Sphalerite, zinc sulfide ZnS, as both gangue and ore in the carbonate-hosted, Mississippi Valley-type deposits of Central Tennessee, where zinc-bearing hydrothermal fluids moved through Ordovician limestone and deposited both minerals in open vugs and solution cavities rather than as tightly disseminated ore. The Elmwood Mine, one of the district's largest and best-known producers, has supplied specimen-grade material of both species for decades even while operating primarily as a working zinc mine.
A piece showing Fluorite and Sphalerite together captures two of Elmwood's best-known minerals on the one specimen, rather than asking a collector to choose between them. This piece is from the David Vince Collection.