Stibnite is the principal ore of antimony. The mineral is widely admired for its spectacular crystalline habits, which exhibit extremes of sharpness, luster and size. Its principal metallic component, antimony, probably received its name from the Greek anthemon, describing its flowery appearance in clusters. The Latin name for the mineral, stibium, survives today as stibnite.
Gold is a bright yellow native element, long prized as an object of natural beauty. It has attracted the attention of human cultures for thousands of years, and its softness, resistance to corrosion and workability have made it a favored material for creating decorative jewelry and early coinage. Modern technological applications have displaced much of its historic use in jewelry and measuring wealth.
Pyromorphite is a secondary lead mineral, very popular among collectors. Pyromorphite forms outstanding and highly aesthetic bright green crystal clusters. Less often, this mineral is used as an ore of lead.
Sphalerite is common, but it does not often show up in casual collections of minerals, despite its occurrence in several different colors. This is perhaps because sphalerite is most commonly found in black or dark gray due to the frequent presence of iron impurities in its makeup.
Baryte is the common mineral and main ore of barium. It is also highly popular as mineral specimen due to its wide variety of aesthetic shapes and colors.
In the last few years, reality shows with prospectors and minerals became quite widespread. Despite some exaggeration, these shows still might be quite interesting and there is a lot to learn. This overview covers The Gold Rush, The Prospectors and The Ice Cold Gold.
Native copper was discovered through metal smelting in the prehistoric times and still belongs to the keystones of modern civilization. Its is also a very nice and popular mineral that is capable of forming complex and beautiful shapes.
Azurite is a secondary copper mineral, which forms outstanding specimens. It is very popular among mineral collectors because of its beautiful shade of blue and highly sought after dark crystals, often combined with green malachite.
Although most mineral collectors are not attracted by talc, it is still an interesting mineral. It has set of quite unique physical properties, which create endless options for various industrial applications.
Silver is a beautiful mineral and native element. It is known as one of the precious metals, and its history dates back to ancient civilizations, where it was used in many of the ways that it still is today. Sometimes, silver is mined as native silver, but most of the time, it comes from sulfide ores.
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