Vote for your favorite mineral in #MinCup26! - Sphalerite vs. Anorthite Both zinc ore Sphalerite and calcium plagioclase feldspar Anorthite have perfect cleavage that will split cleanly if you hit them with a hammer, but only one can claim a larger split of your votes!
Cooper & Stanley (1990): "Identified on a surprising number of specimens collected recently from the No. 2 or 'Old Dutch' level dumps (D.R. Middleton, D.I. Green Collections det. BM(NH), Leicester Univ., Leeds Univ.: XRD)."
Habit:
radiating sprays of minute (0.25-0.5mm) hexagonal crystals terminated by a sharp 'pencil point' or drusy crusts commonly associated with caledonite, leadhillite, susannite, lanarkite, anglesite and bindheimite.
Red Gill Mine, Roughton Gill, Caldbeck, Allerdale, Cumbria, England, UK