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Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem. Cassiterite is the chief ore of tin today. Cassiterite. ...
Minerals are natural compounds formed through geological processes. ...
A chemical formula (also called molecular formula) is a concise way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound. ...
In mineralogy, shape and size give rise to descriptive terms applied to the typical appearance, or habit of crystals. ...
A crystal system is a category of space groups, which characterize symmetry of structures in three dimensions with translational symmetry in three directions, having a discrete symmetry group. ...
In crystallography, the tetragonal crystal system is one of the 7 lattice point groups. ...
Cleavage, in mineralogy, is the tendency of crystalline materials to split along definite planes, creating smooth surfaces, of which there are several named types: Basal cleavage: cleavage parallel to the base of a crystal, or to the plane of the lateral axes. ...
For fractures in geologic formations, see Rock fracture. ...
Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer. ...
Lustre (American English: luster) is a description of the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock or mineral. ...
The refractive index (or index of refraction) of a medium is a measure for how much the speed of light (or other waves such as sound waves) is reduced inside the medium. ...
Pleochroism is an optical phenomenon where due to double refraction of light by a colored gem or crystal, the light is divided into two paths which are polarized at a 90° angle to each other. ...
The streak (also called powder color) of a mineral is the color of the powder produced when it is dragged across a unweathered surface. ...
Relative density (also known as specific gravity) is a measure of the density of a material. ...
Fusibility is the ease with which a material will melt. ...
Solubility refers to the ability for a given substance, the solute, to dissolve in a solvent. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number tin, Sn, 50 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 14, 5, p Appearance silvery lustrous gray Standard atomic weight 118. ...
An oxide is a chemical compound containing an oxygen atom and other elements. ...
Minerals are natural compounds formed through geological processes. ...
Most sources of cassiterite today are found in alluvial or placer deposits containing the resistant weathered grains. The best source of primary cassiterite is the tin mines of Bolivia, where it is found in hydrothermal veins. Cassiterite is a widespread minor constituent of igneous rocks. The Bolivia veins and the old exhausted workings of Cornwall, England, are concentrated in high temperature quartz veins and pegmatites associated with granitic intrusives. The veins commonly contain tourmaline, topaz, fluorite, apatite, wolframite, molybdenite, and arsenopyrite. The current major tin production comes from placer or alluvial deposits in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Russia. Alluvium (from the Latin, alluvius, from alluere, to wash against) is soil or sediments deposited by a river or other running water. ...
A sluice box used in placer mining Placer mining (pronounced plass-er) is a open-pit or open-cast form of mining by which certain valuable minerals are extracted from the earth without tunneling. ...
Hydrothermal circulation in the oceans is the passage of the water through mid-ocean Ridge (MOR) systems. ...
Igneous rocks are formed when molten rock (magma) cools and solidifies, with or without crystallization, either below the surface as intrusive (plutonic) rocks or on the surface as extrusive (volcanic) rocks. ...
Cornwall (Cornish: ) is a county in South West England, United Kingdom, on the peninsula that lies to the west of the River Tamar and Devon. ...
Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification - by Athelstan AD 927 Area - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK) 50,346 sq mi Population - 2006 est. ...
Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the Earths continental crust. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Quarrying granite for the Mormon Temple, Utah Territory. ...
Pluton redirects here. ...
The tourmaline mineral group is chemically one of the most complicated groups of silicate minerals. ...
Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al2SiO4(F,OH)2. ...
Fluorite (also called fluor-spar) is a mineral composed of calcium fluoride, CaF2. ...
ske| Fracture|| Conchoidal to even Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually referring to hydroxylapatite, fluorapatite, and chlorapatite, named for high concentrations of OH-, F-, or Cl- ions, respectively, in the crystal. ...
Wolframite (Fe,Mn)WO4, is an iron manganese tungstate mineral that is the intermediate between ferberite (Fe2+ rich) and huebernite (Mn2+ rich). ...
Molybdenite is a mineral of molybdenum disulfide, MoS2. ...
Arsenopyrite is an iron arsenic sulfide (FeAsS). ...
Crystal twinning is common in cassiterite and most aggregate specimens show crystal twins. The typical twin is bent at a near-60-degree angle, forming an "Elbow Twin". Botryoidal or reniform cassiterite is called wood tin. Crystallography (from the Greek words crystallon = cold drop / frozen drop, with its meaning extending to all solids with some degree of transparency, and graphein = write) is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in solids. ...
Cassiterite is also used as a gemstone and collector specimens when quality crystals can be found. A selection of gemstone pebbles made by tumbling rough rock with abrasive grit, in a rotating drum. ...
The name derives from the Greek kassiteros for "tin" - or - from the Phoenician word Cassiterid referring to the islands of Ireland and Britain, the ancient sources of tin - or - as Roman Ghirshman (1954) suggests, from the region of the Kassites, an ancient people in west and central Iran. Phoenician was a language originally spoken in the coastal region then called PÅ«t in Ancient Egyptian, Canaan in Phoenician, Hebrew and Aramaic, and Phoenicia in Greek and Latin. ...
Ghirshmans team in Sialk in 1934: Sitting from R to L: Roman Ghirshman, Tania Ghirshman, and Dr. Contenau. ...
The Kassites were a Near Eastern mountain tribe of obscure origins, who spoke a non-Indo-European, non-Semitic language. ...
Cassiterite has recently become an illegally mined and traded mineral in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is due to great increase in tin demand because new lead-free solder materials have a larger proportion of tin. It is generally traded by same organisations as coltan. A solder is a fusible metal alloy, with a melting point or melting range below 450 °C (840 °F), which is melted to join metallic surfaces, especially in the fields of electronics and plumbing, in a process called soldering. ...
Coltan is the colloquial African name for (columbite-tantalite), a metallic ore comprising Niobium and Tantalum. ...
References
- Hurlbut, Cornelius S.; Klein, Cornelis, 1985, Manual of Mineralogy, 20th ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York, pp 306-307 ISBN 0-471-80580-7
- Mineral galleries accessed 4-21-05
- Mindat accessed 4-21-05
- Webmineral accessed 4-21-05
- ReliefWeb accessed 7-20-05
- "War, Murder, Rape...All For Your Cell Phone" [1]
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