Xenotime

Xenotime is said to activate the Sacral, Heart, and Root chakras to allow the positive energy of creativity, compassion, and determination to flow through. It is believed to stimulate the mind and provide for better focus, even in times of boredom or confusion. It allows the user to see obstacles in their path and gives them the insight needed to remove them.

Xenotime is a very rare mineral that can contain arsenic or radioactive elements, making it unsuitable for jewelry use. However, very rarely, gemstones are cut for gemstone collections. This mineral is especially desirable if it contains chocolate brown or orange crystals. It can be easily confused with zircon, monazite, and anatase. To establish authenticity, the specific gravity, crystal habits, and color need to be inspected. Xenotime tends to be bluer than anatase. Synthesized or fake varieties are not known to exist.

Xenotime is a rare-earth mineral which contains many rare and specific substances that can be extracted: yttrium, dysprosium, ytterbium, erbium and gadolinium. These elements are used in welding, as commercial catalysts, and in glass-making processes. Some very perfect specimens of xenotime are cut for jewelry.

Xenotime is a rare-earth phosphate mineral, the major component of which is yttrium orthophosphate (YPO₄). It forms a solid solution series with chernovite-(Y) (YAsO₄) and therefore may contain trace impurities of arsenic, as well as silicon dioxide and calcium. The rare-earth elements dysprosium, erbium, terbium and ytterbium, as well as metal elements such as thorium and uranium (all replacing yttrium) are the expressive secondary components of xenotime. Due to uranium and thorium impurities, some xenotime specimens may be weakly to strongly radioactive.

Occurring as a minor accessory mineral, xenotime is found in pegmatites and other igneous rocks, as well as gneisses rich in mica and quartz. Associated minerals include biotite and other micas, chlorite group minerals, quartz, zircon, certain feldspars, analcime, anatase, brookite, rutile, siderite and apatite. Xenotime is also known to be diagenetic: It may form as minute grains or as extremely thin (less than 10 µ) coatings on detrital zircon grains in siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. The importance of these diagenetic xenotime deposits in the radiometric dating of sedimentary rocks is only beginning to be realised. Discovered in 1824, xenotime's type locality is Hidra (Hitterø), Flekkefjord, Vest-Agder, Norway. Other notable localities include: Arendal and Tvedestrand, Norway; Novo Horizonte, São Paulo, Novo Horizonte, Bahia and Minas Gerais, Brazil; Madagascar and California, Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina and New Hampshire, United States. A new discovery of gemmy, colour change (brownish to yellow) xenotime has been reported from Afghanistan and been found in Pakistan. North of Mount Funabuse in Gifu Prefecture, Japan, a notable basaltic rock is quarried at a hill called Maru-Yama: crystals of xenotime and zircon arranged in a radiating, flower-like pattern are visible in polished slices of the rock, which is known as chrysanthemum stone (translated from the Japanese 菊石 kiku-ishi). This stone is widely appreciated in Japan for its ornamental value. Small tonnages of xenotime sand are recovered in association with Malaysian tin mining, etc. and are processed commercially. The lanthanide content is typical of "yttrium earth" minerals and runs about two-thirds yttrium, with the remainder being mostly the heavy lanthanides, where the even-numbered lanthanides (such as Gd, Dy, Er, or Yb) each being present at about the 5% level, and the odd-numbered lanthanides (such as Tb, Ho, Tm, Lu) each being present at about the 1% level. Dysprosium is usually the most abundant of the even-numbered heavies, and holmium is the most abundant of the odd-numbered heavies. The lightest lanthanides are generally better represented in monazite while the heaviest lanthanides are in xenotime.