Fluorite

Fluorite forms beautiful crystals of cubic or octahedral appearance, or sometimes occurs in compact and granular aggregates. Its colour is extremely variable: when pure it is colourless and transparent, but it is often found yellow, green, pink, blue and almost black. In some cases, when exposed to ultraviolet rays, it is highly fluorescent, generally in pinkish-violet. It melts easily, is heavy and cleaves easily.

Fluorite is a very common mineral that forms in hydrothermal veins associated with lead sulphide, silver and zinc, and within cavities of silica-rich metamorphic and magmatic rocks.

It is mainly used for the production of hydrofluoric acid; very important in the field of optics, it is also used in the metallurgical industry, plastics and ceramics.