Colorado Rare Earth Minerals Options

[MikeS]

What time is it?.... IT'S XENOTIME!!!

While we were diggin on the claim on Monday, my longtime friend (and co-owner) was getting into a nice pocket of gemmy smokies when he found a odd crystal we had never seen before. We suspected Zircon because of the crystal shape and it felt very heavy. After a specific gravity test it appears to be Xenotime. It is also on the heavy side of Xenotime which would suggest that the Yttrium in it has been replaced with a heavier mineral/element like Uranium or Thorite. It may have mild radioactivity. If I get the chance to test it for radiation I'll post results. If your wondering how to pronounce Xenotime here is a link with audio: Oxford Dictionaries





The crew and I just before the rare find. (I'm on the left)

[Dave S.]

Prospected Devils Head Area for the first time. Found some pretty good crystals of Smokey Quartz, Feldspar(almost amazonite). But I also found this heavy ,somewhat ugly rock. It was a surface find.

After some test and research, I think it is a sample of the rare-earth minerals:

Furgesonite-(Y) [YNbO4] --- (Yttrium Niobium Oxide)

*Black and Brown "waxy" mass to the left in Pic#1


Samarskite-(Y) [(Y,Fe3+,Fe2+, U, Th, Ca)(Nb,Ta)] --- (Yttrium, Iron"isotopes", Uranium, Thorium, Calcium, Niobium, Tantalum, ... Oxide!)
(also often contains significant amounts of Titanium)

*Ugly red "nodule" to the right in Pic#1


It is hard to find good crystals of these minerals, due to radioactive decay.








The backside