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)

[johnnybravo300]

Wow awesome find.
Is there a way you can use a detector or Geiger counter to find more of that?
That's not a crystal you'd want to clean off in your mouth! Very cool.

[Dave S.]

Wow awesome find.
Is there a way you can use a detector or Geiger counter to find more of that?
That's not a crystal you'd want to clean off in your mouth! Very cool.

Thank you Johnny,

Yeah, you would'nt want to clean anything at my brothers claim with your mouth. Lots of weird mineral deposits and elements.

I don't think a metal detector would work very well.(Mikes gold bug 2 does not even pick up the Hematite, or Goethite, both iron minerals.)

A Geiger counter might work, but most regular Xenotime has very low radiation. This one is an exeption, because of the Cesium and Thoruim content.

Here is a pic of the X-ray refraction results: