Monazite

Mineral containing rare-earth elements

Monazite is a primarily reddish-brown phosphate mineral that contains rare-earth elements. Due to variability in composition, monazite is considered a group of minerals. The most common species of the group is monazite-(Ce), that is, the cerium-dominant member of the group. It occurs usually in small isolated crystals. It has a hardness of 5.0 to 5.5 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness and is relatively dense, about 4.6 to 5.7 g/cm3. There are five different most common species of monazite, depending on the relative amounts of the rare earth elements in the mineral:monazite-(Ce), (Ce,La,Nd,Th)PO4, monazite-(La), (La,Ce,Nd)PO4, monazite-(Nd), (Nd,La,Ce)PO4, monazite-(Sm), (Sm,Gd,Ce,Th)PO4, monazite-(Pr), (Pr,Ce,Nd,Th)PO4.

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