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Formula: Mn2+Sn4+Ta2O8
Multiple oxide containing tantalum, manganese-bearing mineral,
wodginite group
Specific gravity: 7.36
Hardness: 5½
Streak: Brown
Colour: Red-brown, dark brown to black
Environments
Wodginite is widely distributed in complex zoned tantalum-bearing
pegmatites in
amphibolite
(Mindat, Dana).
Localities
One of two co-type localities is the Wodgina Tantalite Mine, Wodgina, Abydos Station, Port Hedland Shire, Western Australia. Here
wodginite occurs in a matrix of albite, quartz and
muscovite, associated with tantalite
(AM 48.1417, Dana, HOM).
The Wodgina mainlode pegmatite is an
albite pegmatite that was intruded into greenstone.
It can be subdivided into 6 units:
(1) A cleavelandite layer of coarse bladed albite
with tantalum minerals, spessartine and minor
quartz and muscovite
(2) An aplitic layer of
albite-quartz-muscovite
with occasional coarse-grained masses of microcline
(3) An albite-quartz-microcline
layer of medium to coarse-grained texture
(4) A quartz core as isolated grey quartz masses
(5) A sugary albite unit of albite, quartz and muscovite
(6) A lithium-mica replacement unit composed of
lithium-bearing micas and
albite
The units that included wodginite were the cleavelandite layer (1) and the
sugary albite layer (5).
On nearby Mt Cassiterite and Mt Tinstone is a group of
albite-spodumene
pegmatites where the main economic
tantalum ore minerals are wodginite and also
cassiterite with abundant wodginite inclusions, and minor amounts of
tapiolite, columbite-(Mn),
tantalite-(Mn) and microlite
(R&M 96.3.264-269).
The second of the two type localities is the Tanco Mine, Bernic Lake, Lac-du-Bonnet area, Manitoba, Canada, where
wodginite occurs
as the chief ore mineral in a major tantalum ore body in a complex zoned
pegmatite in
amphibolite. Associated minerals include
microcline, albite,
lepidolite, microlite,
tantalite, cassiterite and
tapiolite
(Dana, HOM).
The wodginite occurs as small, black grains up to about ten millimeters in diameter, containing inclusions of
feldspar and/or mica. Additional minerals found in
the pegmatite include quartz,
lithium micas,
spodumene, pollucite,
amblygonite, beryl,
lithiophilite, apatite,
tourmaline, rhodochrosite and
tantalite
(AM 48.1417).
The assemblages of minerals in the pegmatite were deposited in
succession from petalite + quartz to
spodumene + quartz to
eucryptite + quartz
(R&M 92.2.153).
At the Jabuti claim, São Geraldo do Baixio, Minas Gerais, Brazil, wodginite occurs in large brilliant crystals sometimes
epitaxially intergrown with cassiterite
(Dana).
At the Emmons Quarry, Uncle Tom Mountain, Greenwood, Oxford County, Maine, USA, the
pegmatite is a highly evolved
boron-lithium-cesium-tantalum
enriched pegmatite.
Wodginite has been found only
as rims on tantalowodginite
(R&M 94.6.517).
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