“A mass of shattered, orange coloured, resinous Hydroxycalciopyrochlore in Quartz. This Pyrochlore is lighter coloured than most samples from here and the radiation shatter in the Quartz is minimal so the sample may contain less U than average. Hydroxycalciopyrochlore is the best fit for the physical properties.
A partial analysis of the amber phase in Hogarth (1961), in wt %, is: FeO 3.4%, ThO2 0.1%, U3O8 18.7%, PbO 0.5%, SrO 0.5%, Nb2O5 39.5%, Ta2O5 4.4%, TiO2 13.5%, H2O 12.8%. There was a decrease in Nb and an increase in H2O between the black, brown and amber samples from the mine that Hogarth analyzed.
If the remaining 6.6 wt % is assumed to be CaO, as it is in other analyses from here published in Traill (1980), then the chemistry of this Pyrochlore is (vac. 0.99, Ca 0.50, U 0.33, Fe 0.18)2(Nb 1.31,Ti 0.62, Ta 0.10)2.02(O5.8, OH 1.2)7 ”
Richard Gunter - 16th April 2015