This article is about the mineral. For crystals in solidifying lava, see Microlites. For lightweight, slow-flying aeroplanes, see Microlight.
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Microlite
General
Category
Oxide minerals
Formula (repeating unit)
(Na,Ca)2Ta2O6(O,OH,F)
IMA symbol
Mic[1]
Strunz classification
04.DH.15
Crystal system
Cubic
Space group
Fd3m (no. 227)
Identification
References
[2]
Microlite was once[when?] known as a pale-yellow, reddish-brown, or black isometric mineral composed of sodium calcium tantalum oxide with a small amount of fluorine. Its chemical formula is (Na,Ca)2Ta2O6(O,OH,F). Today[when?] it is a name of a group of oxide minerals of a similar stoichiometry having tantalum prevailing over titanium and niobium. The microlite group belongs to a large pyrochlore supergroup that occurs in pegmatites and constitutes an ore of tantalum. It has a Mohs hardness of 5.5 and a variable specific gravity of 4.2 to 6.4. It occurs as disseminated microscopic subtranslucent to opaque octahedral crystals with a refractive index of 2.0 to 2.2. Microlite is also called djalmaite, but both names are now obsolete.
"Microlite" occurs as a primary mineral in lithium-bearing granite pegmatites, and in miarolitic cavities in granites. Association minerals include: albite, lepidolite, topaz, beryl, tourmaline, spessartine, tantalite and fluorite.
"Microlite" was first described in 1835 for an occurrence on the Island of Uto, State of Stockholm, Sweden. Another occurrence of microlite is the Clark Ledges pegmatite, Chesterfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The name is from Greek mikros for "small" and lithos for "stone".
^Anthony, John W.; Bideaux, Richard A.; Bladh, Kenneth W.; Nichols, Monte C. (eds.). Handbook of Mineralogy(PDF). Chantilly, VA 20151-1110, USA: Mineralogical Society of America. Retrieved 12 February 2022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
Microlite was once[when?] known as a pale-yellow, reddish-brown, or black isometric mineral composed of sodium calcium tantalum oxide with a small amount...
Microlites are minute crystals in an amorphous matrix. In igneous petrology, the term microlitic is used to describe vitric (glassy, non-crystalline, amorphous)...
other battery companies including VARTA, Ningbo Baowang and Microlite S.A. The Microlite acquisition included the rights to the Rayovac name in Brazil...
series consisting of tantalite-(Fe), tantalite-(Mn) and tantalite-(Mg)), microlite (now a group name), wodginite, euxenite (actually euxenite-(Y)), and polycrase...
abundance of lechatelierite a general lack of microscopic crystals known as microlites not having a chemical relationship to the local bedrock or local sediments...
indented surfaces. Internally the pebbles sometimes contain fine bands or microlites and though in reflected light they appear black and opaque, they may be...
accompanying finer-grained albite, lithium-bearing muscovite, lepidolite, microlite, and tantalite. Much of the spodumene and microcline have been extensively...
Queiroz, A. A. A. E.; Andrade, M. B. (2022). "Prospection of pyrochlore and microlite mineral groups through Raman spectroscopy coupled with artificial neural...
Ixiolite is typically associated with feldspar, tapiolite, cassiterite, microlite, and rutile. Trace elements include zirconium, hafnium, titanium and tungsten...
augite and olivine, but all these minerals very frequently occur mainly as microlites or as skeletal growths with sharply-pointed corners or ramifying processes...
It is associated with tantalite, albite, quartz, muscovite, tapiolite, microlite and microcline. It occurs in pegmatites in a wide variety of locations...
glass) pyroclasts which contain microlites (small quench crystals, not to be confused with the rare mineral microlite) and phenocrysts. Slightly more...
Ekeberg[when?] at Ytterby, Sweden, and Kimoto, Finland. The minerals microlite and pyrochlore contain approximately 70% and 10% Ta, respectively. Tantalum...
tantalum in 1942 for wartime production, and reports going back to 1931 of microlite at the Harding Mine, led Arthur Montgomery to investigate the old workings...
art can be typical for hunters-gatherers and associated with blades and microlites industry. Similar representations are present in the stone carvings of...
discovered the Lueshite mineral at Lueshe mine; furthermore, he discovered Microlite, Rankamaite, and Pyrochlore, also known as Safiannikoffite. Safiannikoff...
pegmatites. It occurs in association with tantalite, manganotantalite, microlite, tapiolite, beryl, spodumene, montebrasite, pollucite, petalite, eucryptite...
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