Scheelite

Calcium tungstate — heavy, glassy, and glows bright blue-white under shortwave UV.

Scheelite specimen — Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify scheelite

Surprisingly heavy for a pale mineral.
Glows bright blue-white in shortwave UV.
Pyramid-shaped crystals.

Often confused with

Quartz
Quartz is much lighter and harder.
Compare side by side
Calcite
Calcite is lighter and fizzes in acid.
Compare side by side

Where it's found

Felbertal, Austria
Sangdong, South Korea
China
Arizona

Uses

Tungsten ore.

Rock tumbling

Not suitable for tumbling.

Did you know?

Prospectors search for scheelite at night with UV lamps because it glows.

Think you could spot it from a blurry close-up?

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