A rare-earth mineral contains one or more
rare-earth elements as major metal constituents. Rare-earth minerals are usually found in association with
alkaline to
peralkaline 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 o ...
complexes, in
pegmatites associated with alkaline magmas and in or associated with
carbonatite 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
In crystallography, crystal ...
mineral phases are common hosts to rare-earth elements within the alkaline complexes.
Mantle
A mantle is a piece of clothing, a type of cloak. Several other meanings are derived from that.
Mantle may refer to:
*Mantle (clothing), a cloak-like garment worn mainly by women as fashionable outerwear
**Mantle (vesture), an Eastern Orthodox ve ...
-derived carbonate melts are also carriers of the rare earths.
Hydrothermal deposits associated with alkaline
magmatism 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
*
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 ...
*
bastnäsite
*
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, Green ...
*
brockite
Brockite is a rare earth phosphate mineral with formula: (Ca,Th,Ce)PO4·H2O. It crystallizes in the hexagonal system in the chiral space group 180 or its enantiomorph 181. It is typically granular to massive with only rare occurrence of stubby cry ...
*
cerite
*
Dollaseite-(Ce)
Dollaseite-(Ce) is a sorosilicate end-member epidote rare-earth mineral which was discovered by Per Geijer (1927) in the Ostanmossa mine (Östanmossa gruva), Norberg district, Sweden. Dollaseite-(Ce), although not very well known, is part of a b ...
*
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
*
gadolinite
*
monazite
*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 in ...
*
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 is replaced by ba ...
*
titanite
*
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 metal ...
*
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 si ...
*
zircon
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.
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China New Policy Affect Rare Earth Price
Lanthanide minerals
Yttrium minerals
Scandium minerals