The Probert Encyclopaedia of Rocks & Minerals

CRYOLITE

Cryolite is the fluoride of sodium and aluminium, it is found in Greenland in white cleavable masses often enclosing brown siderite and grey galena. It always occurs in pegmatites where it's probably a precipitate from fluoride rich solutions. It is used in the manufacture of sodium salts, certain kinds of glass and porcelain, and as a flux for cleaning metal surfaces. It has the formulae Na3AlF and a relative hardness of 3.
Research Cryolite