Where to Find Sphalerite in Missouri

Missouri sphalerite is the zinc half of the lead-zinc ores that built the Tri-State and Old Lead Belt camps. Tri-State sphalerite from the Joplin field is the famous "ruby jack," a deep red translucent variety that crystallized in dolomite vugs alongside galena, pyrite, and chalcopyrite. The Viburnum Trend mines south of Salem (Sweetwater, Buick, Brushy Creek) yield brown-to-amber sphalerite tetrahedrons and dodecahedrons, often resin-clear in the best cores. The Old Lead Belt around Bonne Terre adds smaller honey-yellow crystals on dolomite matrix. Cleavable masses are common; well-terminated single crystals are the prize and concentrate on the deeper Viburnum dumps.