Color Tables for Mineral Identification

Abstract

Fluorescent color can be a useful guide to mineral identification, and in some cases, it is the quickest and least expensive means. In the mines at Franklin and Ogdensburg, New Jersey, a portable battery operated short wave light provided immediate identification of the willemite ores and of the less frequent sphalerite. In scheelite properties, the short wave light is indispensable for identification of the tungsten ore which is so often indistinguishable from valueless rock in ordinary light. In the talc and tremolite mines at Balmat, New York, a portable ultraviolet light is useful in distinguishing talc strata from the interbedded strata of tremolite. There is little doubt that the portable ultraviolet light can be useful in many other mining situations once the tendencies, fluorescent habits, and trends of a mineral in each local situation are understood.