Where it forms, where it's found
- Geological setting
More than 100 carbonatite dikes (1∼2 m wide, NNE to NNW orientation) coeval with the ore-hosting carbonatite pluton, intruded into the Archean-Mesoproterozoic basement complex and Mesoproterozoic sedimentary formation around the three open pits in Bayan Obo. These dikes can be categorized into three types based on their main mineral composition and sequence: the dolomite type, the dolomite-calcite type, and the calcite type, with progressively increasing REE content from early to late stages. The new mineral fuyuanite was found in a dolomite-calcite carbonatite dike.
- Type locality
- Bayan Obo deposit
- Bayan Obo mining district
- Baotou City
- Inner Mongolia
- China
41.7958°, 109.9694°
Physical
Optical
- Pleochroism
- Visible
from orange-red to pale yellow under cross-polarized light.
- Reflectance R%
- (11.0,10.3) 470, (10.7,10.1) 546, (10.6,10.1) 589, (10.6,10.2) 650
- Notes
The refractive indices of fuyuanite are too high to be measured using the available index liquids.
Crystallography
- Space group
- #79
- Cell parameters
- a = 10.7174(5) Å · c = 4.7110(2) Å
- Z
- 1
- Type-locality form
platy, euhedral to subhedral crystals ranging from 40μm to 60μm in size. Commonly occurs in the edges of oboniobite aggregates.
- Comment
single-crystal
Chemical composition
Synonyms
- Fuyuaniet
- IMA2024-059
In other languages
- German
- Fuyuanit · IMA 2024-059
Classification
4.CB
- 4OxidesClass
- 4.CMetal: Oxygen = 2: 3,3: 5, and similarDivision
- 4.CBWith medium-sized cationsGroup
- 4.CBFuyuaniteSpecies
Literature, links & citation
- 2025SHE, HaiDong; FAN, HongRui; ZHAN, YunXiang; GU, XiangPing; LI, XiaoChun; YANG, KuiFeng; WANG, QiWei (2025) A new hydroxyl niobic-magnesic oxide mineral in the Banyan Obo polymetallic deposit: Fuyuanite. Acta Petrologica Sinica, 41 (1). 1-3 doi:10.18654/1000-0569/2025.01.01DOI: 10.18654/1000-0569/2025.01.01
- 2025She, Hai-Dong; Fan, Hong-Rui; Zhan, Yun-Xiang; Gu, Xiang-Ping; Li, Xiao-Chun; Yang, Kui-Feng; Wang, Qi-Wei (2025) Fuyuanite [Mg7Nb6O18(OH)8], a new hydrous magnesic-niobic oxide mineral from the Bayan Obo deposit, China. American Mineralogist, 110 (10). 1649-1657 doi:10.2138/am-2024-9676DOI: 10.2138/am-2024-9676
@misc{mineral2026,
author = {Mineral Index editorial board},
title = {Fuyuanite — Mineral Index},
year = {2026},
url = {https://mineralindex.org/minerals/fuyuanite-471493},
note = {Accessed 2026-05-11}
}