The

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

group tantalite Fe,_manganese.html"_;"title="iron.html"_;"title="iron">Fe,_ Mn)Tantalum.html"_;"title="iron">Fe,_manganese.html"_;"title="iron.html"_;"title="iron">Fe,_manganese">Mn)Tantalum">Ta₂oxygen.html" ;"title="manganese">Mn)Tantalum.html" ;"title="iron">Fe,_manganese.html" ;"title="iron.html" ;"title="iron">Fe, manganese">Mn)Tantalum">Ta₂oxygen">O₆] 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 Relative density, or specific gravity, is the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for liquids is nearly always measured with respect to water at its densest ...

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''. Tantalite is also very close to '' tapiolite''. Those minerals have the same chemical composition, but different crystal symmetry: orthorhombic for tantalite and

tetragonal In crystallography, the tetragonal crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. Tetragonal crystal lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along one of its lattice vectors, so that the cube becomes a rectangular prism with a squar ...

for tapiolite. Tantalite is black to brown in both color and streak.

Manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

-rich tantalites can be brown and translucent.

Occurrence

Tantalite occurs in granitic pegmatites that are rich in rare-earth elements, and in placer deposits derived from such rocks. It has been found in Australia,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, Colombia ( Guainía and Vichada),

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, northern

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Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, Rwanda, The Democratic Republic of Congo, the

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(

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

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, and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

), and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

. Brazil has the world's largest reserve of tantalite (52.1%).

Applications

The tantalum metal extracted from tantalite is used in alloys for strength and higher melting points, in

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...

to increase the index of

refraction In physics, refraction is the redirection of a wave as it passes from one medium to another. The redirection can be caused by the wave's change in speed or by a change in the medium. Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenome ...

, and in surgical steel, as it is non-reactive and non-irritating to body tissues. Much like glass, it is not suitable for use in hydrofluoric acid and strong hot alkali applications.

Sustainability

The mining of tantalite causes many environmental and social problems in the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

.The Coltan Scandal
Geology.about.com (2010-07-04). Retrieved on 2011-10-30.

References

External links

Webmineral Tantalite-(Fe)

Webmineral Tantalite-(Mn)

Handbook of Mineralogy
{{Authority control Tantalum minerals Niobium minerals Manganese(II) minerals Oxide minerals Orthorhombic minerals Minerals in space group 60

Occurrence

Applications

Sustainability

See also

References

External links