Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive metal that is found in soil, rock, and water. It is formed by the radioactive decay of uranium. Minerals such as monazite, thorite, and thorianite are rich in thorium and may be mined for the metal. Thorium has coloring properties that have made it useful in ceramic glazes.

How is Thorianite formed?

Thorogummite is believed to be formed from thorite by hydration which is facilitated by metamictation. Specimens of thorite generally come from igneous pegmatites and volcanic extrusive rocks, hydrothermal veins, contact metamorphic rocks, and as small grains found in detrital sands.

Where is Thorianite found?

Originally found as waterworn grains and crystals in the gem gravels of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), thorianite also occurs sparsely in the black river and beach sands of Alaska, Madagascar, and Siberia.

Where is uraninite found?

Uraninite has been obtained from hydrothermal vein deposits, such as those at Jáchymov and in adjacent places in the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) in Germany. Other vein deposits occur at Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada and in the Lake Athabasca district of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

What does uraninite look like?

Physical Properties of Uraninite

Usually gray to black, sometimes brown or greenish. Brownish black, black, gray, greenish. Submetallic, greasy, or dull. Opaque, translucent to transparent on thin edges.

Thorianite Meaning

17 related questions found

Is thorite radioactive?

Thorite, (Th,U)SiO₄, is a rare nesosilicate of thorium that crystallizes in the tetragonal system and is isomorphous with zircon and hafnon. It is the most common mineral of thorium and is nearly always strongly radioactive. It was named in 1829 to reflect its thorium content.

What type of rock is monazite?

Monazite is a rare phosphate mineral with a chemical composition of (Ce,La,Nd,Th)(PO₄,SiO₄). It usually occurs in small isolated grains, as an accessory mineral in igneous and metamorphic rocks such as granite, pegmatite, schist, and gneiss.

What is the mineral thorium?

Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive element usually found with other minerals, such as monazite in alkalic igneous deposits and carbonatites. Thorium has a multitude of uses. ... Moreover, thorium can incinerate weapons-grade plutonium in its fuel cycle, rendering the plutonium unusable as a nuclear weapon.

Can you find uranium in nature?

Uranium occurs naturally in the Earth's crust, water, air, and living organisms.

What is columbite ore?

Columbite, also called niobite, niobite-tantalite and columbate [(Fe, Mn)Nb. ₂O. ₆], is a black mineral group that is an ore of niobium. It has a submetallic luster and a high density and is a niobate of iron and manganese. This mineral group was first found in Haddam, Connecticut, in the United States.

Is thorium a rock?

Thorium is a naturally occurring, slightly radioactive element. It is found in small amounts in most rocks, where it is about three times abundant than uranium. Thorium is relatively enriched in acid igneous rocks, especially in granites. The most common thorium mineral is monazite.

Can you buy thorium?

Because there is no way you can directly buy Thorium with cash. But, using marketplaces such as LocalBitcoins to first buy Bitcoin, and completethe rest of the steps by transferring your bitcoin to respective AltCoin exchanges.

Is thorium a metal?

When pure, thorium is a silvery white metal which is air-stable and retains its lustre for several months. ... Thorium oxide has a melting point of 3300°C, the highest of all oxides. Only a few elements, such as tungsten, and a few compounds, such as tantalum carbide, have higher melting points.

Is monzonite a rock?

Monzonite is an intermediate igneous intrusive rock composed of approximately equal amounts of K–feldspars and Na–plagioclase with minor amount of quartz (<5%) and ferromagnesian minerals (hornblende, biotite and pyroxene).

How is thorium extracted from monazite sand?

In a typical acid digestion process, monazite is cracked using sulfuric acid at 230 °C for 4 h. The process is followed by a selective precipitation process using ammonium hydroxide (NH₄OH), sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) to separate thorium from rare earth elements (REE) and uranium [8], [9].

What is monazite used for?

Monazite Uses

Monazite is an important source of thorium, cerium, and other rare elements. It is often mined as a byproduct of heavy mineral deposits. Monazite sand is used in construction and casting.

Is uraninite the same as uranium?

Uraninite is the primary ore for uranium and can also be mined for other elements such as radium, thorium, and lead, which are decay products of radioactive uranium. Uraninite deposits are generally a dark steel black with a slight metallic luster. ... That is, for every million atoms in the rock only one atom is uranium.

Is uraninite ionic or covalent?

Uranous is the chemical term for the reduced tetrapositive cation of uranium that exhibits the valence U⁴⁺. It is one of the two common ionic states of uranium found in nature, the other being the oxidised hexapositive ion called uranyl.

Does uraninite fluoresce?

Autunite crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and often occurs as tabular square crystals, commonly in small crusts or in fan-like masses. Due to the moderate uranium content of 48.27% it is radioactive and also used as uranium ore. Autunite fluoresces bright green to lime green under UV light.

Is thorium man made?

Thorium (chemical symbol Th) is a naturally occurring radioactive metal found at trace levels in soil, rocks, water, plants and animals. Thorium is solid under normal conditions. There are natural and man-made forms of thorium, all of which are radioactive.

Is it legal to own thorium?

Thorium is merely the breeding material - you cannot create a reactor using thorium alone. Possession of Thorium is regulated in the US as a "source material." Here's from 10CFR part 40.

Can thorium be used as fuel?

Thorium is more abundant in nature than uranium. It is fertile rather than fissile, and can only be used as a fuel in conjunction with a fissile material such as recycled plutonium.

Is thorium safe to touch?

Alpha particles do not penetrate the human skin and is therefore not dangerous. Thorium-232 is safe provided we are not stupid enough to eat it or ground it up into a fine powder and inhale it.

Is thorium named after Thor?

In 1815, for example, Berzelius isolated a new element from a mineral sent to him from the Swedish mining town of Falun and named it thorium after the Scandinavian god of thunder, Thor.