Huntite is a carbonate mineral with the chemical formula Mg3Ca(CO3)4. Huntite crystallizes in the trigonal system and typically occurs as platy crystals and powdery masses. For most of recorded history its main use was as a white pigment. Today the most common industrial use of huntite is as a natural mixture with hydromagnesite as a flame retardant or fire retardant additive for polymers. Discovery In 1953 a paper by George Faust announced the discovery of a new carbonate mineral found in Currant Creek, Nevada (US). Faust acknowledged that the mineral probably had been discovered previously, but it had been misidentified as impure magnesite by W. E. Ford in 1917. Faust named the new mineral "huntite" in honour of his former teacher, Walter Frederick Hunt (1882–1975), Professor of Petrology at the University of Michigan. Faust carried out analyses of the mineral, and found amongst others that in differential thermal analysis huntite showed two endothermic peaks, which could be attributed to the dissociation of MgCO3 and CaCO3 respectively. Chemical analyses showed huntite...