Fluorspar

Fluorspar is a synonym of Fluorite. Spar is a historical term once referring to nonmetallic mineral crystals with sharp projections. The origin of “spar” is from the Old English word spærstan, meaning spear stone, referring to a crystal’s sharp projections. The word spar in mineralogy has the same root as “spear.” An example of this is Calcite, a mineral whose crystals often form with spearlike projections.

Today the term “spar” is frequently used by miners to simply describe any bright crystalline substance. Most frequently, spar describes easily cleaved, lightly colored nonmetallic minerals such as Barite or Calcite.