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Formula: BiNbO4
Multiple oxide of bismuth and niobium,
cervantite group
Crystal System: Orthorhombic
Specific gravity: 7.17 measured, 7.66 calculated
Hardness: 5½
Streak: Brown to pale yellow
Colour: Black; brown in transmitted light
Common impurities: Pb,Sb,Sn,Ti
Environments
Localities
At the type locality, the Danburitovaya pegmatite vein, Malkhan pegmatite field, Krasnyi Chikoy, Krasnochikoysky
District, Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia, bismutocolumbite occurs in the
pegmatite as prismatic crystals to 2 mm, striated parallel to
their elongation, and associated with elbaite,
bismuth-rich microlite,
cassiterite, danburite and
quartz
(HOM, Mindat).
At the Dorozhnyi pegmatite, Murghob, Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan, rock-forming minerals of the
pegmatite are quartz,
microcline, oligoclase,
schorl and spessartine (sometimes
scandium-bearing); minor minerals are
muscovite and albite. Common
accessory minerals are columbite-(Mn),
thorite, zircon,
monazite-(Ce), cassiterite,
magnetite, fluorapatite,
fluorite, beryl,
titanite and rutile; rare
accessory minerals are scheelite and
hambergite, scandium-bearing
tusionite, high-boron crystalline
gadolinite, uranopolycrase,
allanite-(Ce), thorianite,
uraninite, herzenbergite,
xenotime-(Y), ilmenite,
hematite, helvine,
bismutocolumbite, a
scandium-tantalate and a
cesium-mica
(CM 58.3.381-394).
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