Very small brown single crystals of the extremely rare hafnium mineral hafnon from a locality in Canada (Bernic Lake, Lac-du-Bonnet District, Manitoba, Canada). From a total of 5638 mineral species known only one hafnium mineral exists (source Mindat), it is hafnon. Analyzed specimen by SEM/EDS. Ex Vandenbroucke Museum collection from Waregem, Belgium. — Photo: David Hospital · CC BY-SA 4.0
Hafnon
Hafnium silicate — the hafnium counterpart of zircon and one of the few minerals with essential hafnium.
Intro adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Hafnon is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the silicate class, with the chemical formula Hf(SiO₄).
It crystallizes in the tetragonal crystal system (space group I4_1/amd). It is a member of the Zircon structural group.
Key properties: specific gravity 6.97.
IMA symbol Haf, IMA status: approved, named in 1974.
Found in tantalum-bearing granite pegmatites (Zamb¶ezia district, Mozambique); in a weathered pegmatite (Mt. Holland, Western Australia).
It is found associated with Cookeite, albite (Zamb¶ezia district, Mozambique); quartz, potassic feldspar, muscovite, tourmaline, anthophyllite, phlogopite, apatite, cassiterite.
The name refers to hafnium in the composition.