WILLEMITE

WILLEMITE

A specimen rock of the super fluorescent mineral Willemite with a bit of Calcite.  To view this spectacular specimen you will need a UVC Shortwave Lamp.  Willemite is the most Fluorescent naturally occurring mineral and is my favourite.

Location:
Sterling Hill Mine, Franklin, NJ.

Dimensions:
5.6cm x 4.2cm x 4.5cm, 140g.

Willemite: Zn2Sio4, Zinc Silicate.

Willemite is a somewhat rare zinc mineral, but it was found in such great abundance at Franklin New Jersey that it instantly became an important ore of zinc.  The deposit at Franklin, New Jersey is truly unique.  Not only is Willemite found there but other rare minerals are also found there, and some in amazingly large quantities.  Minerals such as Zincite, franklinite (named after the locality), Rhodonite, Greenockite, fluorescent calcite, various zeolites and many other rare and interesting minerals are found at this amazing locality.  The unique mineral assemblage is believed to have come into existence from the metamorphism of formerly oceanic floor, metallic mineral deposits that were oxidized into secondary minerals before metamorphism.  In the case of Willemite the secondary minerals were probably Smithsonite and Hemimorphite.  At other localities for Willemite it is more scarce and forms as a secondary mineral from primary zinc deposits.
Originally named “silicious oxyde of zinc” in 1824 by Lardner Vanuxem and William Hypolitus Keating. Re-named in 1830 by Serve-Dieu Abailard “Armand” Lévy in honor of William I (Willem), King (1813-1840) of the Netherlands, wherein the type locality was located at the time.