Stibiotantalite

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Stibiotantalite is a very rare antimony tantalum niobium oxide which rarely forms good crystals. Himalaya mine in San Diego County, California has produced the world's best crystals, but typically as thin bladed crystals up to several cm in length, similar in appearance to Brookite. A series of pegmatites in Mozambique have produced larger, blockier, Stibiotantalite crystals, but they are typically off-matrix and incomplete crystals. This specimen from Muiâne pegmatite, Muiane-Naipa group, Gilé District, Zambezia Province, Mozambique is an absolute giant. Despite technically being miniature in size, this is a ginormous single, detached orthorhombic crystal, blocky in form but with good development of most crystal faces and with a great resinous lustre and nice pale clove-brown colour. At 5.2 x 4 x 3 cm you will struggle to find a much larger single crystal of Stibiotantalite from anywhere with well-developed crystal form.