Category
page 1Minerals in space group 60
columbite
Columbite, also called niobite, niobite-tantalite and columbate, with a general chemical formula of , is a black mineral group that is an ore of niobium. It has a submetallic luster, a high density, and is a niobate of iron and manganese. Niobite has many applications in aerospace, construction and the medical industry. Dating columbite minerals is primarily completed by uranium–lead dating, a slow process.

tantalite
The mineral group tantalite [(Fe, Mn)Ta2O6] is the primary source of the chemical element tantalum, a corrosion (heat and acid) resistant metal. It is chemically similar to columbite, and the two are often grouped together as a semi-singular mineral called coltan or "columbite-tantalite" in many mineral guides. However, tantalite has a much greater specific gravity than columbite (8.0+ compared to columbite's 5.2). Iron-rich tantalite is the mineral tantalite-(Fe) or ferrotantalite and manganese-rich is tantalite-(Mn) or manganotantalite.
samarskite-(Y)
Samarskite is a radioactive rare earth mineral series which includes samarskite-(Y), with the chemical formula and samarskite-(Yb), with the chemical formula . The formula for samarskite-(Y) is also given as .
lorenzenite
Lorenzenite is a rare sodium titanium silicate mineral with the formula Na2Ti2Si2O9 It is an orthorhombic mineral, variously found as colorless, grey, pinkish, or brown crystals.
francevillite
Francevillite is a uranyl-group vanadate mineral in the tyuyamunite series. Its chemical formula is . Francevillite is a strongly radioactive mineral. It is typically orange, yellow or brownish yellow. It forms a series with curienite.
polycrase-(Y)
Polycrase or polycrase-(Y) is a black or brown metallic complex uranium yttrium oxide mineral with the chemical formula . It is amorphous. It has a Mohs hardness of 5 to 6 and a specific gravity of 5. It is radioactive due to its uranium content (around 6%). It occurs in granitic pegmatites.
Ixiolite
Ixiolite is an accessory oxide mineral found in granitic pegmatites. It is an oxide with the general chemical formula or .
bowieite
Bowieite is a rhodium-iridium-platinum sulfide mineral , found in platinum-alloy nuggets from Goodnews Bay, Alaska. It was named (by the IMA in 1984) after the British scientist Stanley Bowie (1917–2008), in recognition of his work on identification of opaque minerals.
haidingerite
Haidingerite is a calcium arsenate mineral with formula Ca(AsO3OH)·H2O. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system as short prismatic to equant
crystals. It typically occurs as scaly, botryoidal or fibrous coatings. It is soft, Mohs hardness of 2 to 2.5, and has a specific gravity of 2.95. It has refractive indices of nα = 1.590, nβ = 1.602 and nγ = 1.638.
scrutinyite
Scrutinyite is a rare oxide mineral and is the alpha crystalline form of lead dioxide (α-PbO2), plattnerite being the other, beta form. The mineral was first reported in 1988 and its name reflects the scrutiny and efforts required to identify it from a very limited amount of available sample material.
rapidcreekite
Rapidcreekite is a rare mineral with formula Ca2(SO4)(CO3)·4H2O. The mineral is white to colorless and occurs as groupings of acicular (needle-shaped) crystals. It was discovered in 1983 in northern Yukon, Canada, and described in 1986. Rapidcreekite is structurally and compositionally similar to gypsum.
cesbronite
Cesbronite is a copper-meteatellurate oxysalt mineral with the chemical formula Cu3Te6+O4(OH)4 (IMA 17-C). It is colored green and its crystals are orthorhombic dipyramidal. Cesbronite is rated 3 on the Mohs Scale. It is named after Fabien Cesbron (born 1938), a French mineralogist.
seifertite
Seifertite is a silicate mineral with the formula SiO2 and is one of the densest polymorphs of silica. It has only been found in Martian and lunar meteorites, where it is presumably formed from either tridymite or cristobalite – other polymorphs of quartz – as a result of heating during the atmospheric entry and impact to the Earth, at an estimated minimal pressure of 35 GPa. It can also be produced in the laboratory by compressing cristobalite in a diamond anvil cell to pressures above 40 GPa. The mineral is named after Friedrich Seifert (born 1941), the founder of the Bayerisches G