Franklin Furnace, also known as the Franklin Mine, is a famous mineral location for rare

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of ...

minerals in old mines in Franklin, New Jersey,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. This locale produced more species of

minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed ...

(over 300) and more different

fluorescent Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, ...

minerals than any other location. The mineral association (assemblage) from Franklin includes

willemite Willemite is a zinc silicate mineral () and a minor ore of zinc. It is highly fluorescent (green) under shortwave ultraviolet light. It occurs in a variety of colors in daylight, in fibrous masses and apple-green gemmy masses. Troostite is a v ...

, zincite and

franklinite Franklinite is an oxide mineral belonging to the normal spinel subgroup's iron (Fe) series, with the formula ZnFe3+2O4. As with another spinel member magnetite, both ferrous (2+) and ferric (3+) iron may be present in Franklinite samples. Diva ...

. During the mid-to-late 19th century the furnace was the center of a large iron making operation. Russian, Chilean, British, Irish, Hungarian and Polish immigrants came to Franklin to work in the mines, and the population of Franklin swelled from 500 (in 1897) to over 3,000 (in 1913).Truran, William R. ''Images of America: Franklin, Hamburg, Ogdensburg, and Hardyston''. (Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2004). The Furnace mine which was adjacent to the actual furnace, was a 120+ foot vertical shaft just under Franklin Falls. Other rare minerals include esperite,

clinohedrite Clinohedrite is a rare silicate mineral. Its chemical composition is a hydrous calcium-zinc silicate; CaZn(SiO4)·H2O. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system and typically occurs as veinlets and fracture coatings. It is commonly colorless, whi ...

hardystonite Hardystonite is a rare calcium zinc silicate mineral first described from the Franklin, New Jersey, U.S. zinc deposits. It often contains lead, which was detrimental to the zinc smelting process, so it was not a useful ore mineral. Like many of ...

, and others. There are scores of minerals found only here, such as

johnbaumite Johnbaumite is a calcium arsenate hydroxide Hydroxide is a diatomic anion with chemical formula OH−. It consists of an oxygen and hydrogen atom held together by a single covalent bond, and carries a negative electric charge. It is an importa ...

(an arsenous

apatite Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and chlorapatite, with high concentrations of OH−, F− and Cl− ions, respectively, in the crystal. The formula of the admixture of the three most common ...

), mcgovernite, etc. Sterling Hill, a very similar zinc orebody, is located a few miles away in Ogdensburg.

References

External links

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Franklin Mine, New Jersey
at

Mindat.org Mindat.org is a non-commercial online database, claiming to be the largest mineral database and mineralogical reference website on the Internet. It is used by professional mineralogists, geologists, and amateur mineral collectors alike. The ...

Franklin Mineral MuseumZinc ores of Franklin district
photo gallery {{coord, 41, 06, 58, N, 74, 35, 15, W, type:landmark_dim:3000_region:US-NJ, display=title Franklin, New Jersey Zinc mines in the United States Geology of New Jersey Mines in New Jersey Iron mines in the United States Manganese mines