Class : Oxides and hydroxides
    Subclass : Oxides
    Crystal system : Hexagonal
    Chemistry : ZnO
    Rarity : Rare

Zincite is a mineral of zinc deposits, very rare outside its type localities of Franklin and Sterling Hill (New Jersey), where it has constituted a very abundant zinc ore. In these deposits, it generally occurs in foliated monomineral masses, composed of xenomorphic areas of several centimeters of dark yellow-orange to dark brown-red color, associated with franklinite, willemite and calcite. Its name comes from its chemical composition (zinc). Zincite only very rarely forms crystals, they are then hemimorphic hexagonal pyramids reaching up to 5 cm in the New Jersey deposits. Artificial zincite is however very common : it is indeed formed in abundance during the treatment of zinc ores and can be cut as a gemstone.

Main photo : Zincite from Franklin, New Jersey, USA © Rob Lavinsky

Twinning is known on {0001}.

Crystals from Poland, which can be red, orange or yellow and of gemmy quality, sometimes large in size, are systematically synthetic.