What is it and where is it formed?   Zinc is a mineral that is usually not found by itself.  Some ores that have zinc in them are: sphalerite, franklinite, willemite, zincite, smithsonite, hemimorphite, and hydrozincite.  Some of these ores are fluorescent.  Zinc is found in igneous and metamorphic rocks. A sheet of zinc would look like a sheet of aluminum but it would be heavier.

How and where is it mined?  Zinc ore is mined using underground and surface [Open-pit] mining or a combination of both.  The Sterling Hill Mine is famous for mining zinc.  The mines are closed now except for tours.   After the ore is mined, they do something called flash smelting where they heat up the ore until it makes zinc oxide [zinc + oxygen].  The zinc ends up as powder.  Zinc ore is mined in China, Australia, Peru, Canada, and the U.S. [Alaska, Tennessee, Missouri].

What is it used for?  Zinc is used in paints, for coating steel, automotive parts, electrical fuses, batteries, roof gutters, pennies, rubber, deodorant, and much more.  Pennies are made of zinc covered with copper.  Zinc is used to cover metal that will rust.  This is called galvanizing.  Zinc is needed by animals and humans to stay healthy. Scientists are worried about the amount of zinc that is being used in industry because it ends up being dumped into bodies of water as waste.  When this happens, fish that live in it, or people who end up drinking it, can be hurt by it. 

It is an Element on the Periodic Table of the Elements.  This means that it is a pure mineral and is not mixed with any other mineral.