Calcite - Minerals Education Coalition

Skip to content Return to Minerals Database Calcite

Calcite is the principal mineral of the rock group known as carbonates. Calcite is a major component in limestone and dolomite.

Type

Mineral

Mineral Classification

Carbonate

Chemical Formula

CaCO3

Streak

White

Mohs Hardness

3

Crystal System

Hexagonal

Color

Colorless or white, but may take on other colors due to impurities

Luster

Vitreous and also pearly along cleavage surfaces

Fracture

Conchoidal

• 
• 
• 

Description

Calcite is the principal mineral of the rock group known as carbonates. Calcite is a major component in limestone and dolomite.

Uses

Calcite is the mineral component of limestone which is used primarily as construction aggregates, and in production of lime and cement. Limestone also is used in a variety of commercial applications including: road construction, riprap and jetty stone, filter stone, railroad ballast, poultry grit, mineral food, sugar processing, flux stone in steel production, glass manufacture, sulfur dioxide removal in power plants, coal mine dusting to prevent explosions, acid water treatment, asphalt fillers and refractory stone.

Related topics:

Limestone Aragonite Acidic Reaction Activity Return to Minerals Database

MEC Spotlight

2025 MEC Mineral Baby

The MEC Mineral Baby details the estimated amount of minerals, metals and fuels that an American born this year will use in their lifetime. In 2025, this amount is 2.99 million pounds. The companion graphic, “MEC Minerals Needed Every Year,” explains that 38,016 pounds of new minerals must be provided for every person in the United States each year to make the things we use daily. Download both graphics here.

These numbers are calculated with statistics from the National Mining Association and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in combination with life expectancy data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Center for Disease Control (and the most recent statistics from a Johns Hopkins December 2024 report). In order to represent an entire year, the completed USGS statistics from the previous year are used in the USGS Mineral Commodities Summaries 2025.