Wodginite

Wodginite

Wodginite over cassiterite
General
Category Oxide - Tantalate mineral
Formula
(repeating unit)		 Mn2+(Sn,Ta)Ta2O8
Strunz classification 4.DB.40
Dana classification 08.01.08.01
Crystal system Monoclinic
Crystal class Prismatic (2/m)
(same H-M symbol)
Identification
Color Reddish brown, dark brown to black
Crystal habit Flattened dipyramidal to prismatic crystals in radiating groups; granular, massive.
Twinning Very common as penetration twins
Cleavage none
Fracture Irregular
Tenacity Brittle
Mohs scale hardness 5.5
Luster Sub-metallic
Streak Brown
Diaphaneity Opaque, translucent in thin fragments
Specific gravity 7.19–7.36
References [1][2][3]

Wodginite is a manganese, tin, tantalum oxide mineral with formula Mn2+(Sn,Ta)Ta2O8. It may include significant niobium.[1][2]

Background

Wodginite was first described in 1963 for an occurrence in the Wodgina pegmatite, Wodgina, Pilbara Region, Western Australia.[3]

Typical occurrence is in zoned pegmatites in amphibolite. It is associated with tantalite, albite, quartz, muscovite, tapiolite, microlite and microcline.[1]

It occurs in pegmatites in a wide variety of locations. The most studied is the Tanco pegmatite in Manitoba, Canada; also in Red Lake, Ontario. It is reported from the Strickland quarry, Portland, Middlesex County, Connecticut; the Herbb #2 pegmatite, Powhatan County, Virginia; the McAllister mine, Rockford, Coosa County, Alabama; the Peerless mine, Pennington County, South Dakota. Also from Paraíba and Minas Gerais, Brazil; Krasonice, Czech Republic; Orivesi, Finland; Kalba, eastern Kazakhstan; Ankole, Uganda; Miami district, Zimbabwe and Karibib and Kohero, Namibia.[1][3]

The figure shows, that the columbite group (including tantalite) and wodginite can be seen as a superstructure of ixiolite.[4]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wodginite.
  1. 1 2 3 4 Handbook of Mineralogy
  2. 1 2 Webmineral data
  3. 1 2 3 Mindat.org
  4. ↑ Ercit, T. S.; Hawthorne, F.; Cerny, P. (1992). "The wodginite group: I. structural crystallography". Canadian Mineralogist. 30: 597-611.
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