Muséum national d'histoire naturelle

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Brannerite is an iron, titanium, uranium, calcium and cerium oxide, which one finds in the granitic pegmatites and gneisses. It can be formed in the calcite and quartz veins. It is also a detrital material, resulting from the weathering of pegmatites and quartz veins.

Its crystals are of dark, brown to black colour, sometimes yellow, of often indistinct form. They can reach relatively large sizes (it was discovered crystals of approximately 10 cm).

When it results from the gold bearing deposits, brannerite is rather presented in the form of small grains. It is found associated with other species like uraninite, gold, rutile, zircon or apatite.

This species is radioactive, it contains the element uranium (U). Consequently the handling and the conservation of this species must be treated with care and to follow safety requirements. The deposits where the brannerite is present include Sierra Albarrana in the province of Cordoba in Spain (from where were resulting from the crystals of approximately 10 cm).

In France, brannerite is present in the silver mines of Château-Lambert in the Vosges. It is also found in La Motte-les-Bains and in the gold deposit of La Gardette in Isère and in some other deposits in Savoie.

The types of this species are kept at the National Museum of Natural History of Washington, USA. One of these samples was discovered in their collection and other was given in 1948 by US Geogical Survey.

Brannerite

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Mineralogy