Columbite Mineral

Hey dear Hive community, first of all I would like to welcome you all to my contribution and hope you had a day that was full of positive experiences! Today I would like to talk a little about minerals and hope you can learn something new about this interesting topic.

Two specimens of the mineral Columbite can be seen here, which is also the definition of a mixed crystal with different compositions and the most important representatives include Columbite-(Mn), Columbite-(Fe) and Columbite-(Mg). The first discoveries probably come from Colombia where the mixed crystal was found in the 17th century and after that it was also named and some time later came researchers to the interesting conclusion that it contains two new elements. Among the discovered elements are Tantalum and Niobium and in older writings it still appears under the name Columbium and the name was given in honor of the discoverer of America Christopher Columbus. From an economic point of view, Columbite is extremely interesting and it is particularly often used as ore for the extraction of niobium, which is important in various industries and it is particularly often used in the electronic industry or for the production of alloys. It is also of interest for further research and also in collector circles it can enjoy great popular here, however, it must be mentioned that it often contains uranium and is therefore slightly radioactive and you should always pay attention to the correct storage and handling and the radioactive content can be attributed to the element thorium. You can often find it together with granite rocks and there are nowadays many different registered places of discovery are noted and the important ones are Canada, Africa, Brazil, USA or Afghanistan.

Thank you very much for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about minerals! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens!