fluorspar
/ˈflʊəspɑː
/ /ˈflɔːspɑː/noun
Another term for fluorite.Problems with the treatment of the fluorspar ores to remove silica evidently limited the success of the mine during this period....
- The mining of nonmetallic ores - fluorspar, witherite, and barytes (commercial barite ore) - in the northern Pennines began about the time lead and iron mining were in decline.
- For the past three years, Jesse Fisher and his colleagues have spent the summer months extracting the mineral fluorspar from what they believe is the only existing mine of its kind in Britain.
Origin
Late 18th century: from fluor 'a flow, a mineral used as a flux, fluorspar' (from Latin fluor, from fluere 'to flow') + spar3.