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. ( ...
s which contain a
borate
A borate is any of several boron oxyanions, negative ions consisting of boron and oxygen, such as orthoborate , metaborate , or tetraborate ; or any salt with such anions, such as sodium metaborate, and disodium tetraborate . The name also refe ...
anion
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge.
The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...
group. The borate (BO3) units may be
polymer
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...
ised similar to the SiO4 unit of the
silicate mineral
Silicate minerals are rock-forming minerals made up of silicate groups. They are the largest and most important class of minerals and make up approximately 90 percent of Earth's crust.
In mineralogy, silica (silicon dioxide, ) is usually consid ...
class. This results in B2O5, B3O6, B2O4 anions as well as more complex structures which include
hydroxide
Hydroxide is a diatomic anion with chemical formula OH−. It consists of an oxygen and hydrogen atom held together by a single covalent bond, and carries a negative electric charge. It is an important but usually minor constituent of water. I ...
or
halogen
The halogens () are a group in the periodic table consisting of five or six chemically related elements: fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), astatine (At), and tennessine (Ts). In the modern IUPAC nomenclature, this group is ...
anions.Klein, Cornelis and Cornelius Hurlbut, Jr., ''Manual of Mineralogy'', Wiley, 20th ed., 1985 pp. 343 - 347 The 4">(O,OH)4sup>− anion exists as well.
Many borate minerals, such as
borax
Borax is a salt (ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular form, ...
,
colemanite
Colemanite (Ca2B6O11·5H2O) or (CaB3O4(OH)3·H2O) is a borate mineral found in evaporite deposits of alkaline lacustrine environments. Colemanite is a secondary mineral that forms by alteration of borax and ulexite.
It was first described in 18 ...
, and
ulexite
Ulexite (NaCaB5O6(OH)6·5H2O, hydrated sodium calcium borate hydroxide), sometimes known as TV rock or Television stone, is a mineral occurring in silky white rounded crystalline masses or in parallel fibers. The natural fibers of ulexite conduc ...
, are
salts
In chemistry, a salt is a chemical compound consisting of an ionic assembly of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions, which results in a compound with no net electric charge. A common example is table salt, with positively cha ...
: soft, readily soluble, and found in
evaporite
An evaporite () is a water-soluble sedimentary mineral deposit that results from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution. There are two types of evaporite deposits: marine, which can also be described as ocea ...
contexts. However, some, such as
boracite
Boracite is a magnesium borate mineral with formula: Mg3 B7 O13 Cl. It occurs as blue green, colorless, gray, yellow to white crystals in the orthorhombic - pyramidal crystal system. Boracite also shows pseudo-isometric cubical and octahedral for ...
, are hard and resistant to weathering, more similar to the
silicates
In chemistry, a silicate is any member of a family of polyatomic anions consisting of silicon and oxygen, usually with the general formula , where . The family includes orthosilicate (), metasilicate (), and pyrosilicate (, ). The name is al ...
.
There are over 100 different borate minerals.Webmineral.Com Strunz group V/G - V/L Borate minerals include:
*
Kernite
Kernite, also known as rasorite, is a hydrated sodium borate hydroxide mineral with formula . It is a colorless to white mineral crystallizing in the monoclinic crystal system typically occurring as prismatic to acicular crystals or granular mass ...
Na2B4O6(OH)2·3H2O
*
Borax
Borax is a salt (ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular form, ...
Na2B4O5(OH)4·8H2O
*
Ulexite
Ulexite (NaCaB5O6(OH)6·5H2O, hydrated sodium calcium borate hydroxide), sometimes known as TV rock or Television stone, is a mineral occurring in silky white rounded crystalline masses or in parallel fibers. The natural fibers of ulexite conduc ...
NaCaB5O6(OH)6·5H2O
*
Colemanite
Colemanite (Ca2B6O11·5H2O) or (CaB3O4(OH)3·H2O) is a borate mineral found in evaporite deposits of alkaline lacustrine environments. Colemanite is a secondary mineral that forms by alteration of borax and ulexite.
It was first described in 18 ...
CaB3O4(OH)3·H2O
*
Boracite
Boracite is a magnesium borate mineral with formula: Mg3 B7 O13 Cl. It occurs as blue green, colorless, gray, yellow to white crystals in the orthorhombic - pyramidal crystal system. Boracite also shows pseudo-isometric cubical and octahedral for ...
Mg3B7O13Cl
*
Painite
Painite is a very rare borate mineral. It was first found in Myanmar by British mineralogist and gem dealer Arthur C.D. Pain who misidentified it as ruby, until it was discovered as a new gemstone in the 1950s. When it was confirmed as a new miner ...
CaZrAl9O15(BO3)
Nickel–Strunz Classification -06- Borates
IMA-CNMNC proposes a new hierarchical scheme (Mills et al., 2009). This list uses it to modify the Classification of Nickel–Strunz ( mindat.org, 10 ed, pending publication). Note that although Nickel–Strunz division letters were traditionally based on the number of boron atoms in a mineral's chemical formula (06.A are monoborates, 06.B are diborates, etc.), the IMA has reclassified borate minerals based on the polymerisation of the borate anion.
;Abbreviations:
* ''REE'':
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 ...
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, "island")
* ''soro-'': grouped (from Greek , "heap, pile, mound")
* ''cyclo-'': rings of (from Greek , "circle")
* ''ino-'': chained (from Greek , "fibre", rom Ancient Greek
* ''phyllo-'': sheets of (from Greek , "leaf")
* ''tekto-'': three-dimensional framework (from Greek , "of building")
;Nickel–Strunz code scheme ''NN.XY.##x'':
* ''NN'': Nickel–Strunz mineral class number
* ''X'': Nickel–Strunz mineral division letter
* ''Y'': Nickel–Strunz mineral family letter
* ''##x'': Nickel–Strunz mineral/group number; ''x'' an add-on letter
Sassolite
Sassolite is a borate mineral, specifically the mineral form of boric acid. It is usually white to gray, and colourless in transmitted light. It can also take on a yellow colour from sulfur impurities, or brown from iron oxides.
History and occ ...
Azoproite
Azoproite is a rare manganese iron borate mineral with the chemical formula (Mg,Fe)(Fe,Ti,Mg)(BO)O. It was first identified near Lake Baikal, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Easter ...
Ludwigite
Ludwigite is a magnesium-iron borate mineral: Mg2FeBO5.
Ludwigite typically occurs in magnesian iron skarn and other high temperature contact metamorphic deposits. It occurs in association with magnetite, forsterite, clinohumite and the borates ...
Fluoborite
Fluoborite has a chemical formula of Mg3(BO3)(F,OH)3. Its name comes from its main chemical components, FLUOrine and BORon. It was first described in 1926.
Fluoborite's crystal system is hexagonal, meaning it has one six-fold axis of rotation. It ...
Painite
Painite is a very rare borate mineral. It was first found in Myanmar by British mineralogist and gem dealer Arthur C.D. Pain who misidentified it as ruby, until it was discovered as a new gemstone in the 1950s. When it was confirmed as a new miner ...
** 06.AC B(O,OH)4, without and with additional anions; 1(T), 1(T)+OH, etc.: 05 Sinhalite; 10 Pseudosinhalite; 15
Schiavinatoite
Schiavinatoite is a very rare mineral, a natural niobium borate with the chemical formula .Demartin, F., Diella, V., Gramaccioli, C.M., and Pezzotta, F., 2001. Schiavinatoite, , the Nb analogue of behierite. European Journal of Mineralogy 13, 159- ...
Hexahydroborite Hexahydroborite is a mineral composed of calcium, boron, oxygen, and hydrogen, with formula , more precisely .
Hexahydroborite is the end member of a series of natural metaborates with the general formula or with ''n'' varying from 0 to 6, the ...
Cahnite
Cahnite (Cahnit in German, Cahnita in Spanish, Канит in Russian) is a brittle white or colorless mineral that has perfect cleavage and is usually transparent. It usually forms tetragonal-shaped crystals and it has a hardness of 3 mohs. Cahni ...
Suanite
Suanite is a magnesium borate mineral with formula Mg2B2O5.
It was first described in 1953 by Japanese scientist Takeo Watanabe from the University of Tokyo.
His first contact with the mineral was during analysis of gold- and copper- bearing skar ...
Sussexite
Sussexite is a manganese borate mineral Mn B O2( O H). Crystals are monoclinic prismatic and typically fibrous in occurrence. Colour is white, pink, yellowish white with a pearly lustre. It has a Mohs hardness of 3 and a specific gravity of 3.12. ...
Pinnoite
Pinnoite is a magnesium borate mineral with formula: MgB2O(OH)6 or MgB2O4·3(H2O). It crystallizes in the tetragonal crystal system and occurs as colorless to yellow or light green radial fibrous clusters and rarely as short prismatic crystals.
P ...
Ameghinite
Ameghinite, sodium, Na ydrogen, H4boron, B3oxygen, O7or NaB3O3(OH)4, is a mineral found in Argentina. It is a soft mineral with a Mohs hardness of 2–3. Ameghinite has a monoclinic crystal system.
It was first described in 1967 for an occurren ...
Meyerhofferite
Meyerhofferite is a hydrated borate mineral of calcium, with the chemical formula Ca2B6O6(OH)10·2H2O, CaB3O3(OH)5·H2O or Ca2(H3B3O7)2·4H2O. It occurs principally as an alteration product of inyoite, another borate mineral.
Natural meyerhoffer ...
; 35
Inyoite
Inyoite, named after Inyo County, California, where it was discovered in 1914, is a colourless monoclinic mineral. It turns white on dehydration. Its chemical formula is Ca(HBO)(OH)·4HO or CaB3O3(OH)5·4H2O. Associated minerals include priceite, ...
Borax
Borax is a salt (ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular form, ...
; 15
Tincalconite
Tincalconite is a hydrous sodium borate mineral closely related to borax, and is a secondary mineral that forms as a dehydration product of borax. Its formula is Na2 B4 O7·5 H2O or Na2 hydrogen.html"_;"title="4O5(Ohydrogen">H)4·3H2O.
Tincalconi ...
Fontarnauite
Fontarnauite is a relatively recently described, rare sulfate, borate mineral with the chemical formula . It is found in an evaporite boron deposit. It coexists with other evaporite boron minerals, especially probertite. It is monoclinic, crystal ...
Santite
Santite ( K B5 O8·4 H2O) is a hydrated borate mineral of potassium found in Tuscany, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of ...
Ulexite
Ulexite (NaCaB5O6(OH)6·5H2O, hydrated sodium calcium borate hydroxide), sometimes known as TV rock or Television stone, is a mineral occurring in silky white rounded crystalline masses or in parallel fibers. The natural fibers of ulexite conduc ...
Admontite
Admontite is a hydrated magnesium borate mineral with formula MgB6O10·7H2O.
Occurrence - In a gypsum deposit.
Associations: gypsum, anhydrite, hexahydrite, löweite, eugsterite, pyrite, quartz.
It is named after Admont, Austria. Its Mohs ...
Colemanite
Colemanite (Ca2B6O11·5H2O) or (CaB3O4(OH)3·H2O) is a borate mineral found in evaporite deposits of alkaline lacustrine environments. Colemanite is a secondary mineral that forms by alteration of borax and ulexite.
It was first described in 18 ...
; 15
Hydroboracite
Hydroboracite is a hydrated borate mineral (hence the name) of calcium and magnesium, whose chemical composition is CaMgB6O8(OH)6·3H2O. It was discovered in 1834 in the Inder (lake), Inder lake, Atyrau Province, Kazakhstan. Hydroboracite is a ...
; 20
Howlite
Howlite, a calcium borosilicate hydroxide (calcium, Ca2boron, B5silicon, Sioxygen, O9(Ohydrogen, H)5), is a borate mineral found in evaporite deposits.Jarandolite
* 06.DB Ino-tetraborates: 05
Kernite
Kernite, also known as rasorite, is a hydrated sodium borate hydroxide mineral with formula . It is a colorless to white mineral crystallizing in the monoclinic crystal system typically occurring as prismatic to acicular crystals or granular mass ...
Priceite
Priceite is a white borate mineral. The mineral has been found in places such as Chetco, Oregon, Death Valley, and northwestern Turkey. In 1862 small amounts of this mineral were mined from Chetco, Oregon.
Priceite is rare and has only been fou ...
Veatchite
Veatchite is an unusual strontium borate, with the chemical formula Sr2B11O16(OH)5·H2O. There are two known polytypes, veatchite-A and veatchite-p.Grice J D, Pring A (2012) Veatchite: structural relationships of the three polytypes, American Mi ...
Tuzlaite
Tuzlaite is a borate mineral, associated with Halide, halides, named after the Tuzla salt mines in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Hercegovina. A multitude of rare Evaporite minerals, evaporate minerals have been discovered there, it being the o ...
Nobleite
Nobleite is a rare borate mineral with the chemical formula CaB6O9(OH)2·3H2O. It was discovered in 1961, in Death Valley, California, and is named for Levi F. Noble, a USGS geologist, in honor of his contributions to the geology of the Death Val ...
Fabianite
Fabianite is a borate mineral with the chemical formula CaB3O5(OH). It is colorless and leaves a white streak. Its crystals are monoclinic prismatic. It is transparent and fluorescent. It has vitreous luster. It is not radioactive. Fabianite is rat ...
* 06.GB Phyllo-nonaborates, etc.: 05
Studenitsite
Studenitsite is a rare borate mineral with chemical formula of NaCa2 9O14(OH)4·2H2O.
Studenitsite has a vitreous luster, a Mohs hardness of 6 and color of light-dirty yellow. It is a monoclinic mineral and belongs to the space group P2/c.Jambor, L ...
Hilgardite
Hilgardite is a borate mineral with the chemical formula Ca2B5O9Cl·H2O. It is transparent and has vitreous luster. It is colorless to light pink with a white streak. It is rated 5 on the Mohs Scale.
It crystallizes in the triclinic crystal s ...
Boracite
Boracite is a magnesium borate mineral with formula: Mg3 B7 O13 Cl. It occurs as blue green, colorless, gray, yellow to white crystals in the orthorhombic - pyramidal crystal system. Boracite also shows pseudo-isometric cubical and octahedral for ...
Rhodizite
The borate minerals are minerals which contain a borate anion group. The borate (BO3) units may be polymerised similar to the SiO4 unit of the silicate mineral class. This results in B2O5, B3O6, B2O4 anions as well as more complex structures whic ...
, 05
Londonite
The borate minerals are minerals which contain a borate anion group. The borate (BO3) units may be polymerised similar to the SiO4 unit of the silicate mineral class. This results in B2O5, B3O6, B2O4 anions as well as more complex structures whic ...
Classification of minerals - Silicates
This list gives an overview of the classification of minerals (silicates) and includes mostly International Mineralogical Association (IMA) recognized minerals and its groupings. This list complements the List of minerals recognized by the Internat ...