noun
definition
A yellow, brown or black, sometimes red, green white or colorless mineral with cubic crystals, of a chemical formula (Zn,Fe)S, often containing also minor metals, such as cadmium, gallium, germanium and indium.
Examples of sphalerite in a Sentence
The principal ores are galena, sphalerite or zinc blende and smithsonite or zinc carbonate, which is locally called "dry bone" and which was the first zinc ore mined in the state.
Most economic deposits of non-ferrous metals occur as sulfide minerals e.g. galena, PbS; sphalerite, ZnS; chalcopyrite, CuFeS 2.
The sulfide minerals recorded from the lodes comprise pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite and arsenopyrite.
The large zinc anomalies are caused by the presence of coarse sphalerite and coarse baryte is also common.
The chief ore is zinc blende, or sphalerite (see Blende), which generally contains, in addition to zinc sulphide, small amounts of the sulphides of iron, silver and cadmium.