Tantalite, is a mineral group that is close to columbite. The two are often grouped together as a semi-singular mineral called coltan or "columbite-tantalite" in many mineral guides. However, tantalite has a much greater specific gravity than columbite (8.0+ compared to columbite's 5.2). Tantalite has been found in Namibia, Nigeria, Canada, Madagascar, northern Europe, and Maine, California, Colorado and Virginia in the United States. Brazil has the world's largest reserve of tantalite (52.1%).As at 2006, 75% of world tantalite production comes from Australia. Tantalite is also mined in Guiana and Vichada, Colombia. Tantalite was discovered in 1887 and is named after its chemical composition containing manganese and tantalum.

Within the metaphysical realm of minerals, Tantalite helps the believer's mind settle and ground itself for the onset of thought based on planning and setting foundations for the future. It is a mineral that helps the believer to ease away such thought that contains poor or wrongful judgment as well as thought that contains different types of negativity. Tantalite can also help to guide a believer in the right direction.

Please note that MIROFOSS does not suggest in any way that minerals should be used in place of proper medical and psychological care. This information is provided here as a reference only.

Tantalite is used as one of the primary minerals to extract the rare element tantalum which is used in metal alloys and electronic equipment.

Tantalite is usually found in pegmatite and alluvial deposits.

Iron-rich tantalite is the mineral tantalite-(Fe) or ferrotantalite and manganese-rich is tantalite-(Mn) or manganotantalite. Tantalite is also very close to tapiolite. Those minerals have the same chemical composition, but different crystal symmetry orthorhombic for tantalite and tetragonal for tapiolite. Tantalite is black to brown in both colour and streak. Manganese rich tantalite can be brown and translucent.

Cleavage	Imperfect
Colour(s)	Black, Brown
Specific Gravity	8.10
Diaphaneity	Opaque
Fracture	Brittle - Uneven - Very brittle fracture producing uneven fragments
Mohs Hardness	6.0 to 6.5
Luminescence	Non-fluorescent
Luster	Sub metallic
Streak	Brown
Habit(s)	Crystalline to Disseminated to Massive
Radioactivity	Non-radioactive
Magnetism	Non-magnetic

The following health hazards should be noted when handling tantalite

	TOXIC Tantalite contains the rare element tantalum which is defined as being highly toxic.
	ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD Tantalite contains the rare element tantalum which is defined as being an environmental hazard if allowed to enter the local ecosystem.

The following image shows the Elemental breakdown of the mineral tantalite along with the mineral crystal structure.

Crystal System	Orthorhombic
Class	Dipyramidal
Axial Ratios	a : b : c = 0.399 : 1 : 0.3523
Morphology	Short prismatic to tabular
Optical Data Type	Biaxial (+)
Pleochroism (x)	Red
Pleochroism (y)	Redish brown
Pleochroism (z)	Orange
RL Values	nα = 2.140 nβ = 2.150 nγ = 2.340
2V	N/A
Max Birefringence	δ = 0.200 (See colour chart at right)
Surface Relief	Very high
Dispersion	Strong r < v

Tantalite can be referenced in certain current and historical texts under the following three names:

Alvarolite

Manganotantalite

Mangatantalite

The mineral tantalite can be translated into the following select languages:

Arabic	تاتنتالايت	Bulgarian	танталит	Chinese (Sim)	钽锰矿
Croatian	tantalitu	Czech		Danish
Dutch	tantaliet	Esperanto		Estonian
Finnish		French		German	Alvarolit
Greek	Τανταλίτης	Hebrew		Hungarian
Italian		Japanese	タンタライト	Korean	탄탈
Latin		Lithuanian	tantalitas	Norwegian	tanta
Persian	تانتالیت	Polish	tantalit	Portuguese	tantalita
Romanian	tantalit	Russian	Мангантанталит	Slovak
Spanish	Alvarolita	Swedish	tantalit	Tagalog
Turkish		Ukrainian	Танталіт	Vietnamese

The MIROFOSS database offers free printable geological identification tags for personal and non-profit use. These tags can be used to properly identify mineral samples in your collection. -Click here- to download a full size jpeg image for a tantalite identification tag; which can be printed on paper or used with a plastic laser printer.

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Crystallography	Palache, Charles, Harry Berman & Clifford Frondel (1944), The System of Mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana Yale University 1837-1892, Volume I: Elements, Sulfides, Sulfosalts, Oxides. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York. 7th edition, revised and enlarged: 780.
Optical Data	Grice, J. D., Ferguson, R. B., Hawthorne, F. C. (1976): The crystal structures of tantalite, ixiolite and wodginite from Bernic Lake, Manitoba. I. Tantalite and ixiolite. Canadian Mineralogist 14, 540-549. [in fact structure of manganotantalite]
History	American Mineralogist (1988): 73: 666-667 American Mineralogist (1995): 80: 613-619.
Geograpcial Data	Mindat.org. Retrieved on 2012-03-05
Physical Identification	Webmineral.com. Retrieved on 2012-03-05.
June 18, 2014	The last time this page was updated
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