Zincite
specimen number:
2102397
location:
Sterling Hill Mine, Ogdensburg, New Jersey, USA
description: The Sterling Hill mine, located in Ogdensburg, Sussex County, New Jersey, is a historic underground zinc deposit that operated for more than a century. Geologically, the ore body is hosted within the Precambrian Franklin Marble and forms a massive, complexly folded, stratiform synclinal structure. Unlike most global zinc deposits dominated by iron sulfides, Sterling Hill features a unique geochemical assemblage characterized by an absence of sulfides and a wealth of rare zinc-manganese oxide and silicate minerals, primarily franklinite, willemite, and zincite. Organized underground mining began in the mid-19th century and expanded substantially under the consolidation of the New Jersey Zinc Company in 1897. The mine experienced continuous, highly mechanized deep-shaft extraction until economic factors and declining ore reserves led to the permanent cessation of all commercial production in March 1986.
Extremely rich deep red masses of zincite in a calcite matrix.
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