Lepersonnite-(Gd) is a very

rare-earth element The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or rare earths, and sometimes the lanthanides or lanthanoids (although scandium and yttrium, which do not belong to this series, are usually included as rare earths), are a set o ...

and

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

mineral with the chemical formula . It occurs with

bijvoetite-(Y) Bijvoetite-(Y) is a very rare rare-earth element, rare-earth and uranium mineralDeliens, M., and Piret, P., 1982. Bijvoetite et lepersonnite, carbonates hydrates d'uranyle et des terres rares de Shinkolobwe, Zaïre. Canadian Mineralogist 20, 231-2 ...

in the

Shinkolobwe Shinkolobwe, or Kasolo, or Chinkolobew, or Shainkolobwe, was a radium and uranium mine in the Haut-Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), located west of Likasi (formerly Jadotville), south of Kambove, and about northwe ...

deposit in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

, famous for rare uranium minerals. It was the first confirmed mineral with essential

gadolinium Gadolinium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Gd and atomic number 64. It is a silvery-white metal when oxidation is removed. Gadolinium is a malleable and ductile rare-earth element. It reacts with atmospheric oxygen or moi ...

Gadolinium: The mineralogy of gadolinium - Mindat. or

/reF> and remained the only

dominant species until the description of Monazite-(Gd) in 2023. It was first described in 1982 and is named after the Belgian geologist Jacques Lepersonne.

References

Calcium minerals Uranium(VI) minerals Gadolinium minerals Dysprosium minerals Silicate minerals Carbonate minerals Orthorhombic minerals Minerals in space group 34 Minerals in space group 58 Minerals described in 1982 {{mineral-stub