A white nonmetallic, natural mineral identified chemically as calcium metasilicate, CaSiO₃. It is the only commercially available pure white mineral that is wholly acicular (needle-like crystals). Wollastonite is available in fine particle size powders as well as fibrous 'high aspect ratio' products (20:1). This material has a very unusual texture, it does not flow at all (a hand full can be picked up with fingers downward). Wollastonite's unique qualities were first recognized in 1822 by an English scientist, Sir William Wollaston. However as a commercially available raw material wollastonite has only been available since the 1950s. Explosive market growth took place during the 1980s and 90s and major industrial sectors have adopted the material. Deposits are mined mainly in US, China, India, Mexico, Canada, and Finland. They vary in purity; some require almost no beneficiation; others may require removal of up to 80% impurities such as garnet, diopside, limestone, and dolomite (e.g. by magnetic separation, froth flotation, optical sorting). Synthetic wollastonite is also made by combining quicklime with quartz, calcium carbonate and calcium hydrate.