Recent mineral discoveries in the Coronel Murta, Taquaral, and Medina pegmatite fields, northeastern Minas Gerais, Brazil

• Main Authors: Luiz Alberto Dias Menezes Filho, Mario Luiz de Sá Carneiro Chaves, Coralie Heinis Dias, Daniel Atencio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Fundação Gorceix
• Series: REM: International Engineering Journal
• Subjects: pegmatites; mineralogical discoveries; Minas Gerais State
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2448-167X2016000300301&lng=en&tlng=en
• ISSN: 2448-167X

Abstract The occurrence of five rare minerals in the Eastern Brazilian Pegmatite Province, northeastern Minas Gerais, is described and discussed: bergslagite [CaBe(AsO4)(OH)] from the Manoel Fonseca mine, Coronel Murta county; herderite [CaBe(PO4)F] from the Funil mine, Medina county; lithiophosphate [Li3PO4] from the Cachoeira mine, Araçuaí/Itinga counties; lithiotantite [Li(Ta,Nb)3O8] from the Murundu mine, Itinga county; and kosnarite [KZr2(PO4)3] from Mario Pinto mine, Itinga county. The host pegmatites of these minerals, with their respective main chemical and/or mineralogical features are also presented. As a consequence of such discoveries, Raman spectra for lithiotantite and lithiophosphate were made available, and crystal structure refinement for lithiotantite was performed.