Rocksday

Monazite

A rare-earth phosphate, slightly radioactive from thorium, concentrated in heavy beach sands.

Monazite specimen
Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify monazite

  • Small yellow-brown grains or wedge crystals.
  • Heavy for its color.
  • Weakly radioactive.

Often confused with

Where it's found

  • Beach sands of Kerala, India
  • Brazil
  • Western Australia

Uses

Rare-earth elements for magnets and electronics, and thorium.

Rock tumbling

Not suitable for tumbling. Mildly radioactive.

Did you know?

Monazite sands of India and Brazil were key sources of rare earths for decades.

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