A rare-earth mineral contains one or more

rare-earth element The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or (in context) rare-earth oxides or sometimes the lanthanides (yttrium and scandium are usually included as rare earths), are a set of 17 nearly-indistinguishable lustrous silve ...

s as major metal constituents. Rare-earth minerals are usually found in association with

alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a base (chemistry), basic, ionic compound, ionic salt (chemistry), salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as ...

peralkaline Peralkaline rocks include those igneous rocks which have a deficiency of aluminium such that sodium and potassium are in excess of that needed for feldspar. The presence of aegerine (sodium pyroxene) and riebeckite (sodium amphibole) are indicati ...

igneous Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...

complexes, in

pegmatite A pegmatite is an igneous rock showing a very coarse texture, with large interlocking crystals usually greater in size than and sometimes greater than . Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar, and mica, having a similar silicic com ...

s associated with alkaline magmas and in or associated with

carbonatite Carbonatite () is a type of intrusive rock, intrusive or extrusive rock, extrusive igneous rock defined by mineralogic composition consisting of greater than 50% carbonate minerals. Carbonatites may be confused with marble and may require geoche ...

intrusives.

Perovskite Perovskite (pronunciation: ) is a calcium titanium oxide mineral composed of calcium titanate (chemical formula ). Its name is also applied to the class of compounds which have the same type of crystal structure as (XIIA2+VIB4+X2−3), known as ...

mineral phases are common hosts to rare-earth elements within the alkaline complexes. Mantle-derived carbonate melts are also carriers of the rare earths.

Hydrothermal Hydrothermal circulation in its most general sense is the circulation of hot water (Ancient Greek ὕδωρ, ''water'',Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with th ...

deposits associated with alkaline

magmatism Magmatism is the emplacement of magma within and at the surface of the outer layers of a terrestrial planet, which solidifies as igneous rocks. It does so through magmatic activity or igneous activity, the production, intrusion and extrusion of ...

contain a variety of rare-earth minerals. The following includes the relatively common hydrothermal rare-earth minerals and minerals that often contain significant rare-earth substitution: *Aeschynite-( Y or Ce) *

allanite Allanite (also called orthite) is a sorosilicate group of minerals within the broader epidote group that contain a significant amount of rare-earth elements. The mineral occurs mainly in metamorphosed clay-rich sediments and felsic igneous rock ...

apatite Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and chlorapatite, with high concentrations of OH−, F− and Cl− ions, respectively, in the crystal. The formula of the admixture of the three most common e ...

bastnäsite The mineral bastnäsite (or bastnaesite) is one of a family of three carbonate-fluoride minerals, which includes bastnäsite-( Ce) with a formula of (Ce, La)CO3F, bastnäsite-( La) with a formula of (La, Ce)CO3F, and bastnäsite-( Y) with a formul ...

britholite Britholite-(Ce) is a rare radioactive mineral with the chemical formula (Ce,Ca)(SiO)OH. It comes in a variety of different colors. Its type locality is Naujakasik (Naajakasik), Tunulliarfik Fjord, Ilímaussaq complex, Narsaq, Kujalleq, Greenland. ...

* brockite *

cerite Cerite is a complex silicate mineral group containing cerium, formula .http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/ceritece.pdf Handbook of Mineralogy The cerium and lanthanum content varies with the Ce rich species (cerite-(Ce)) and the La rich speci ...

* Dollaseite-(Ce) *

fluocerite Fluocerite, also known as tysonite, is a mineral consisting of cerium and lanthanum fluorides, with the chemical formula . The end members are classified as two different mineral types depending on the cation, fluocerite-(Ce) and fluocerite-(La) ...

fluorite Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon. The Mohs sca ...

* gadolinite *

monazite Monazite is a primarily reddish-brown phosphate mineral that contains rare-earth elements. Due to variability in composition, monazite is considered a group of minerals. The most common species of the group is monazite-(Ce), that is, the cerium- ...

*parisite-( Ce or La) *

stillwellite Stillwellite-(Ce) is a rare-earth boro-silicate mineral with chemical formula . Location It occurs as a metasomatic replacement of metamorphosed limestones in the Mary Kathleen mine, Australia and in alkalic pegmatites associated with syenite ...

synchysite Synchysite is a group of carbonate minerals. The three isostructural chemical end members are synchysite-(Ce), synchysite-(Nd) and synchysite-(Y). Huanghoite-(Ce) belongs to the group, but has a different symmetry and calcium Calcium is a ...

titanite Titanite, or sphene (from the Greek ''sphenos'' (σφηνώ), meaning wedge), is a calcium titanium nesosilicate mineral, Ca Ti Si O5. Trace impurities of iron and aluminium are typically present. Also commonly present are rare earth metals ...

wakefieldite Wakefieldite () is an uncommon rare-earth element vanadate mineral. There are four main types described of wakefieldite- wakefieldite-(La), wakefieldite-(Ce), wakefieldite-(Nd), and wakefieldite-(Y), depending upon the dominant rare-earth meta ...

xenotime Xenotime is a rare-earth phosphate mineral, the major component of which is yttrium orthophosphate ( Y P O4). It forms a solid solution series with chernovite-(Y) ( Y As O4) and therefore may contain trace impurities of arsenic, as well as sili ...

zircon Zircon () is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates and is a source of the metal zirconium. Its chemical name is zirconium(IV) silicate, and its corresponding chemical formula is Zr SiO4. An empirical formula showing some of the r ...

References

* Jones, Adrian P., Francis Wall and C. Terry Williams, eds. (1996) ''Rare Earth Minerals: Chemistry, Origin and Ore Deposits'', The Mineralogy Society Series #7, 372 pp. {{reflist
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Lanthanide minerals Yttrium minerals Scandium minerals