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Yanomamite mineral

Yanomamite is the hydrated indium arsenate mineral species In(AsO4)(H2O)2, approved as IMA 1990-052 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. Botelho and colleagues (1994) characterized natural crystals from quartz-topaz greisen at the Mangabeira tin deposit, Goiás, Brazil, using microscopy, electron-microprobe analysis and single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction. The orthorhombic Pbca assignment is supported by natural specimens and a separate synthetic comparator; a matching chemical formula alone does not identify the mineral. Natural crystals contain minor Fe and Al and occur intergrown with or coated by indium-bearing scorodite. Even the three selected single crystals retained minor scorodite, whereas the selected powder material showed no significant scorodite reflections. Water in the reported empirical composition was calculated rather than directly measured because of these impurities. The authors considered both supergene and hydrothermal origins, favoring a hydrothermal association with the main cassiterite stage while explicitly describing the origin discussion as speculative. The actual indium source and transport were not established. These natural alteration associations do not constitute a microbial transformation experiment. This mineral is distinct from elemental indium, scorodite, mixed greisen feed and industrial secondary resources; geological replacement does not make it processing waste. The characterized grains establish neither a bulk resource grade nor extraction performance. No microbial mechanism, industrial recovery or constituent-derived criticality designation is assigned.

Identifiers & Classification

System Identifier Label
IMA IMA:1990-052 Yanomamite

Sources & References

  1. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC. The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026; definitions on PDF page 1 and Yanomamite row on page 237: In(AsO4)(H2O)2, A, 1990-052, Brazil.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-12)
  2. botelho1994: Botelho NF, Roger G, d'Yvoire F, Moëlo Y and Volfinger M (1994). Yanomamite, InAsO4.2H2O, a new indium mineral from topaz-bearing greisen in the Goiás Tin Province, Brazil. European Journal of Mineralogy 6(2), 245-254. DOI 10.1127/ejm/6/2/0245. Complete ten-page original inspected, including Figures 1-6 and Tables 1-4; occurrence and textures on pages 246-248, composition and diffraction on pages 248-250, alternative origin hypotheses on pages 250-251 and conclusions on page 253. RRUFF public reference record 616849 provides the original PDF through downloadfile/68222.
    https://doi.org/10.1127/ejm/6/2/0245 (accessed 2026-10-12)
  3. handbook_yanomamite: Handbook of Mineralogy. Yanomamite, version 1, copyright 2001-2005 Mineral Data Publishing. Complete one-page original entry inspected; Chemistry distinguishes empirical and ideal compositions and water by difference. Its secondary-mineral occurrence terminology concerns geological replacement, not industrial resource classification.
    https://handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/yanomamite.pdf (accessed 2026-10-12)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-12T06:49:53Z codex (GPT-6; codex) create Added the distinct mineral identity and natural-specimen context from current IMA authority and the complete original description; retained scorodite impurities, calculated hydration and alternative formation hypotheses without assigning microbial or criticality claims.

Record source: data/records/yanomamite.yaml