Tantite is a rare tantalum

Tantalum

Tantalum is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as tantalium, the name comes from Tantalus, a character in Greek mythology. Tantalum is a rare, hard, blue-gray, lustrous transition metal that is highly corrosion resistant. It is part of the refractory...

 oxide

Oxide

An oxide is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen atom in its chemical formula. Metal oxides typically contain an anion of oxygen in the oxidation state of −2....

 mineral with formula: Ta

Tantalum

Tantalum is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as tantalium, the name comes from Tantalus, a character in Greek mythology. Tantalum is a rare, hard, blue-gray, lustrous transition metal that is highly corrosion resistant. It is part of the refractory...

₂O

Oxygen

Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

₅. Tantite forms transparent microscopic colorless triclinic - pedial crystals with an adamantine luster. It has a Mohs hardness of 7 and a high specific gravity

Specific gravity

Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a reference substance. Apparent specific gravity is the ratio of the weight of a volume of the substance to the weight of an equal volume of the reference substance. The reference substance is nearly always water for...

 of 8.45. Chemical analyses show minor inclusion (1.3%) of niobium

Niobium

Niobium or columbium , is a chemical element with the symbol Nb and atomic number 41. It's a soft, grey, ductile transition metal, which is often found in the pyrochlore mineral, the main commercial source for niobium, and columbite...

 oxide.

It was first described in 1983 for an occurrence in a pegmatite

Pegmatite

A pegmatite is a very crystalline, intrusive igneous rock composed of interlocking crystals usually larger than 2.5 cm in size; such rocks are referred to as pegmatitic....

 in the Kola peninsula

Kola Peninsula

The Kola Peninsula is a peninsula in the far northwest of Russia. Constituting the bulk of the territory of Murmansk Oblast, it lies almost completely to the north of the Arctic Circle and is washed by the Barents Sea in the north and the White Sea in the east and southeast...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. It has also been reported from a pegmatite complex in Florence County, Wisconsin

Florence County, Wisconsin

Florence County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2000, the population was 5,088. Its county seat is Florence.Florence County is part of the Iron Mountain, MI–WI Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:According to the U.S...

. Associated mineral species include elbaite

Elbaite

Elbaite, a sodium, lithium, aluminium boro-silicate, is a mineral species belonging to the tourmaline group. Elbaite forms three series, with dravite, with liddicoatite, and with schorl...

, lepidolite

Lepidolite

Lepidolite Lepidolite Lepidolite (KLi2Al(Al,Si)3O10(F,OH)2 is a lilac-gray or rose-colored phyllosilicate mineral of the mica group that is a secondary source of lithium. It is associated with other lithium-bearing minerals like spodumene in pegmatite bodies. It is one of the major sources of the...

, spodumene

Spodumene

Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium inosilicate, LiAl2, and is a source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish, or lilac kunzite , yellowish-green or emerald-green hiddenite, prismatic crystals, often of great size...

, columbite-tantalite, wodginite

Wodginite

Wodginite is a manganese, tin, tantalum oxide mineral with formula Mn2+Ta2O8. It may include significant niobium.Wodginite was firsr described in 1963 for an occurrence in the Wodgina pegmatite, Wodgina, Pilbara Region, Western Australia....

, and microlite

Microlite

Microlite is a pale-yellow, reddish-brown, or black isometric mineral composed of sodium calcium tantalum oxide with a small amount of fluorine 2Ta2O6. Microlite is a mineral in the pyrochlore group that occurs in pegmatites and constitutes an ore of tantalum. It has a Mohs hardness of 5.5 and a...

.