Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Zagi Mountains, Pakistan
SIZE : 7.4 x 5.5 x 4.7 cm

This sample is made up of a group of bastnäsite crystals on a granitic matrix. The crystals are brown-red and compact and have a hexagonal outline. The whole specimen measures 7.4 x 5.5 x 4.7cm, the group of crystals is 2.5 x 2 x 1.7 cm.

This sample comes from the mineral deposit of Zagi Mountains in Pakistan.

Acquired thanks to support from Total, it is today kept in the storage rooms of the collections of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (i.e., not yet displayed to the public).

Photography: A. Dahmane / Photo Saint-Hilaire, © MNHN.

SPECIE : Bastnäsite

HISTORY : Named after its type-locality : Bastnäs

Species described in 1838 by Wilhelm Hisinger (1766-1852), Swedish chemist who discovered with Martin Klaproth and Jöns Berzélius, the element cerium (Ce)

Type-locality : mines Bastnäs, district de Ridarhyttan, Vdstmanland, Suède
ANCIENT NAME : Basicerine, fluocerine, hamartite, basiskt fluor-cerium

CHEMICAL FORMULA : (Ce, La,Y) CO3F
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Hexagonal
COLOR : White, gray, brown, yellow, rose
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to opaque
LUSTER : Vitreous
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Small prismatic crystals, hexagonal, rosette
HARDNESS : 4,0-4,5
DENSITY : 4,7-5,0

CHEMICAL CLASS : V - Carbonates, nitrates
GROUP : Bastnäsite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 5/C.07-30
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 5.DB.35

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