fluorspar

Or flu·or spar

[floo-awr-spahr, -er-]

noun

Mineralogy.

1. fluorite.

fluorspar

/ ˈflʊəˌspɑː /

noun

1. Also: fluorite. a white or colourless mineral sometimes fluorescent and often tinted by impurities, found in veins and as deposits from hot gases. It is used in the manufacture of glass, enamel, and jewellery, and is the chief ore of fluorine. Composition: calcium fluoride. Formula: CaF 2 . Crystal structure: cubic

Word History and Origins

Origin of fluorspar¹

First recorded in 1785–95; fluor- + spar ³

Example Sentences

One result is the fluorspar district of southern Illinois, which once produced a majority of the country’s fluorite—used to smelt steel and create hydrofluoric acid.

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Cesium and rubidium, used in research and development and neither of which are mined in the United States, are also spared, as are fluorspar, used to make gasoline, steel and uranium fuel.

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The ruling affects China’s exports of certain forms of bauxite, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide, silicon metal, yellow phosphorous and zinc.

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Besides bauxite, zinc and yellow phosphorus, the other six industrial minerals are coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide and silicon metal.

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The ruling Monday affects exports of certain forms of bauxite, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide, silicon metal, yellow phosphorous and zinc.

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