Tantalum minerals

thumb|upright|right|A piece of columbite–tantalite, size 6.0 × 2.5 × 2.1 cm Coltan (short for columbite–tantalite and known industrially as tantalite) is a dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted. The niobium-dominant mineral in coltan is columbite (after niobium's original name columbium), and the tantalum-dominant mineral is tantalite.

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.

Euxenite, or euxenite-(Y) (the official mineralogical name), is a brownish black mineral with a metallic luster.

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 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 .

thumb|Betafite, Gunnison, Colorado

Microlite was once known as a pale-yellow, reddish-brown, or black isometric mineral composed of sodium calcium tantalum oxide with a small amount of fluorine. Its chemical formula is . Today it is a name of a group of oxide minerals of a similar stoichiometry having tantalum prevailing over titanium and niobium. The microlite group belongs to a large pyrochlore supergroup that occurs in pegmatites and constitutes an ore of tantalum. It has a Mohs hardness of 5.5 and a variable specific gravity of 4.2 to 6.4. It occurs as disseminated microscopic subtranslucent to opaque octahedral crystals wi

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.

Simpsonite has a general formula of . It occurs as euhedral to subhedral tabular to short and prismatic crystals, commonly in subparallel groups. Under the petrographic microscope it has a very high relief.

Tantite is a rare tantalum oxide mineral with formula: Ta2O5. Tantite forms transparent microscopic colorless triclinic - pedial crystals with an adamantine luster. It has a Mohs hardness of 7 and a high specific gravity of 8.45. Chemical analyses show minor inclusion (1.3%) of niobium oxide.

Béhierite is a very rare borate mineral, and the tantalum endmember of a solid solution series formed with schiavinatoite, its niobium analogue.

Tapiolite [(Fe, Mn)(Nb, Ta)2O6] is a black mineral series that is an ore of niobium and tantalum. The tapiolite group includes tapiolite-(Fe) or ferrotapiolite and tapiolite-(Mn) or manganotapiolite. Tapiolite-(Fe) is by far the more common of the two.

Wodginite is a manganese, tin, tantalum oxide mineral with the chemical formula . It may also include significant amounts of niobium.

Rynersonite is an oxide mineral. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system. It is dull, translucent mineral, fibrous in nature. Usually off-white to pale pink in color. It occurs in granitic pegmatites and was first described for an occurrence in San Diego County, California in 1978.

Zimbabweite is a yellow brown mineral with orthorhombic crystal habit and a hardness of 5, with formula . It is generally classed as an arsenite but is notable for also containing niobium and tantalum. It was discovered in 1986 in kaolinized pegmatite, i.e. weathered to clay, in Zimbabwe.

Titanowodginite is a mineral with the chemical formula MnTiTa2O8. Titanowodginite has a Mohs hardness of 5.5 and a vitreous luster. It is an iridescent dark brown to black crystal that commonly forms in a matrix of smoky quartz or white beryl in a complex zoned pegmatite.

Vigezzite is a variant of the mineral aeschynite containing calcium, cerium, niobium, tantalum, and titanium. It was first discovered near Orcesco, Valle Vigezzo, Provo Novara, Northern Italy, in cavities of an albitic rock. The crystals of Vigezzite are flat prismatic crystals up to 2-3 mm length of an orange-yellow color.The name Vigezzite was chosen to draw attention to the locality that has produced the first occurrence of a Ca-Nb-Ta-mineral with Nb dominance over Ta, crystallizing with the aeschynite structure. The ideal chemical formula for vigezzite is (Ca,Ce),(Nb,Ta,Ti)2O6

Achalaite ((Fe2+, Mn)(Ti, Fe3+, Ta)(Nb, Ta)2O8) is a black mineral of the wodginite group, first discovered in 2013.

Billwiseite is a very rare oxide mineral found at the pegmatite commonly referred to as "Stak Nala" located within a few hundred yards from the village of Toghla in the Stak Nala, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. It has only been found as a coating on a single crystal of lepidolite. The sole rock containing Billwiseite is kept at the Royal Ontario Museum, catalogue number M5595.