Fluorite

Fluorite is a stunning mineral with an incredibly simple chemical formula of CaF^2. A member of the halide family of minerals, it is a salt composed of halide elements (e.g., fluorine or chlorine) paired with alkali earth metals. Fluorite is allochromatic, meaning it is colored by its inclusions, which allows fluorite to form in almost any color such as white, gray, yellow, green, purple, clear, blue, red, black, pink and many more. The mineral also comes in many different crystal habits such as cubic, modified cubic, octahedron, modified octahedron, dodecahedron, hexoctahedron, botryoidal, coulamer, and tetrahexahedron. These two factors allow fluorite to take on many unique visual aesthetics creating beautiful crystals. Fluorite also forms in a wide variety of localities making for a highly collectable mineral. A few examples of the many famous locations being Cave Rock IL, US; Yaogangxian Mine, China; Clay center OH, US, and Maharashtra India.

The luster of fluorite can be drastically different between samples depending on locality, inclusions, crystal habit, and formation conditions. Fluorite forms hydrothermally oftentimes in late stage felsic igneous rock, but can also form in hydrothermally active limestones. Fluorite has a high propensity to form in granitic pegmatites. It is associated with a variety of different minerals such as galena, pyrite, quartz, sphalerite, barite, calcite, and many metal bearing ores. Samples of fluorite may contain a variety of inclusions which change Fluorite in many ways, such as making the mineral fluorescent, turning bright blue to purple when under UV light, or creating phantom crystals and layers. Fluorite tends to form veins, as many hydrothermally forming minerals do, but it can also form in cavities and vugs. The mineral is spread across the globe, being found in Africa, Mexico, UK, USA, Canada, and many more countries. Many new pockets have recently been found across China and South America. Fluorite’s name comes from the latin word fluere meaning to flow, and this mineral continues to flow into collections all over the world.