Many rare minerals are found there and zincite although rare everywhere else, is far from rare there. So abundant was zincite that it was quickly exploited and became an important ore of zinc. The structure of zincite consists of tetrahedrons of ZnO 4 . The major axis is symmetrically polar and results in a hemimorphic crystal structure. In other words, there is no symmetry element, like a mirror or two fold rotational axis, perpendicular to the major axis and thus crystal faces on top of the crystal are not repeated on the bottom of the crystal.
Color is orange-yellow to deep red or brown.
Luster is adamantine. Transparency crystals are commonly translucent more rarely transparent. Fracture is conchoidal. Streak is orange-yellow. There is a basal parting.