Rock 365 : Day 11 : Sphalerite #365photos

Day 11 : The dark mineral here is sphalerite or zincblende, the main or mineral of zinc.  It is mostly zinc sulphide with some iron.  The white mineral is calcite and with the sphalerite forms a vein infilling in Lower Carboniferous Limestone. This sample comes from the old mine spoil dumps between Minera in Clwyd and the wonderfully named World's End in Denbighshire, North Wales.  Minera has home to a major zinc extraction industry that peaked in the late 1880s.