Smithsonite var. Cuprian
Smithsonite
– Zn(CO3)
Fluorite
Talc (1)Diamond (10)
Softer than glass. A steel knife scratches it.
Did you know?
For centuries smithsonite and a different zinc mineral, hemimorphite, were sold under one name, calamine. They looked alike and were mined together, and no one told them apart until chemistry did, in the 1800s. The old name lives on in calamine lotion, the pink cream once made from zinc ore.
