Formula: CaTh(PO4)2
Anhydrous phosphate, monazite group,
thorium-bearing mineral
Specific gravity: 4 72 to 5.02
Hardness: 5
Streak:
Colour: Greyish brown to reddish brown (on rims), pale yellow, brownish green, brown-grey in thin section
Common impurities: Si,REE
Strongly RADIOACTIVE
Environments
Common associates of cheralite include albite,
columbite-(Mn), hafnium-bearing zircon,
huttonite and spodumene
(Mindat).
Localities
At Mount Weld, Laverton Shire, Western Australia, Australia, cheralite occurs in a
carbonatite
(HOM).
At the type locality, Kuttakuzhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Thiruvananthapuram District, Kerala, India, cheralite
occurs as green masses up
to two inches across in a kaolinised zoned
granite pegmatite, associated with
schorl, chrysoberyl,
zircon, uraninite,
thorite, muscovite,
hematite and smoky quartz. It also occurs
sparsely in the adjacent wall-rock of kaolinised
granite-gneiss
(AM 39.403, Mindat, HOM).
Cheralite from Kuttakuzhi - Image
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