Formula: ZnO

Species: Oxides

Colour: Red, orange, yellow, white; rarely green

Lustre: Sub-Vitreous, Resinous, Waxy, Greasy, Silky, Dull, Earthy

Hardness: 4

Specific Gravity: 5.64 – 5.68

Crystal System: Hexagonal

Name: Named “red oxide of zinc” in 1810 by Archibald Bruce as a chemical name typical of then current mineral nomenclature practice. Renamed “zincite” in 1845 by Wilhelm Karl von Haidinger. Francis Alger called this mineral “sterlingite” in 1844, while Henry James Brooke and William Hallowes Miller named this mineral “spartalite” in 1852.