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Ixiolite

Accessory oxide mineral found in granitic pegmatites

Summary

Accessory oxide mineral found in granitic pegmatites

Field	Value
name	Ixiolite
image	Ixiolite-490369.jpg
caption	Ixiolite found in Mozambique
category	Oxide minerals
formula	or
IMAsymbol	Ix
strunz	4.DB.25
system	Orthorhombic, some varieties might be monoclinic
class	Dipyramidal (mmm)
H-M symbol: (2/m 2/m 2/m)
symmetry	Pbcn
unit cell	a = 4.785, b = 5.758
c = 5.16 [Å]; Z = 4
color	Steel-grey, black
habit	Irregular granular or inclusions, also as prismatic crystals; some varieties might be pseudoorthorhombic
twinning	Uncommon on {013}
fracture	Irregular/ uneven, sub-conchoidal
tenacity	Brittle
mohs	6 -
luster	Sub-metallic
diaphaneity	Opaque
gravity	7.03 - 7.23
references

H-M symbol: (2/m 2/m 2/m) c = 5.16 [Å]; Z = 4 | length fast/slow =

Ixiolite is an accessory oxide mineral found in granitic pegmatites. It is an oxide with the general chemical formula or .

Structure

Ixiolite was originally reported as crystallizing in the monoclinic crystal system. Detailed studies of the scandium, tin and titanium rich varieties indicate that they form crystals in the orthorhombic system whereas tungsten ixiolite is monoclinic.

Discovery and occurrence

It was first described in 1857 for an occurrence at Skogsböle, Kimito Island, Finland. The name is for Ixion, the Greek mythological character related to Tantalus, as the mineral contains tantalum.

Ixiolite is typically associated with feldspar, tapiolite, cassiterite, microlite, and rutile.

Substitution and varieties

Trace elements include zirconium, hafnium, titanium and tungsten.

As with other tantalum and niobium bearing minerals considerable substitution and a number of varieties exist. Substitutions in the formula are common and the varieties stannian ixiolite (tin), titanian ixiolite (titanium) and wolframian ixiolite (tungsten) have been reported.

Scandium is present in many ixiolite sample with percentages up to 4.0 percent Sc2O3, but usually less than one percent scandium oxide. High scandium ixiolites, containing from 4 to 19% scandium oxide are typically also rich in tin and titanium.

Economic importance

Ixiolite together with microlite, tantalite, tapiolite, wodginite are the most important minerals mined for the element tantalum. Ixiolite contains about 69 % tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) and is a common constituent of coltan ore.

References

Warr, L.N.. (2021). "IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols". Mineralogical Magazine.
[http://www.mindat.org/min-2059.html Mindat.org - Ixiolite]
"Ixiolite". Mineralogical Society of America.
[http://www.webmineral.com/data/Ixiolite.shtml Ixiolite data on Webmineral]
https://www.mineralienatlas.de/lexikon/index.php/MineralData?mineral=Ixiolite Mineralienatlas
Wise, M.A.. (1998). "Scandium substitution in columbite-group minerals and ixiolite". Canadian Mineralogist.
"Niobium-Tantalum". bgs.ac.uk.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

oxide-minerals orthorhombic-minerals minerals-in-space-group-60

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