RARE METALS AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 
IOI 
Many details of the occurrence of these metals in the 
State have already been published by the author,* so that 
only a brief recapitulation will be attempted here, together 
with a few notes on more recent discoveries. In brief, it 
may be said that tantalum minerals containing also niobium 
have been found over a large area extending from the 
North-West to the South Coast, usually in association with 
tin ore ; in fact, hardly a sample of alluvial tin concentrates 
produced in the State is free from them ; some carry more 
tantalum than tin. 
The following are brief particulars of known occurrences 
starting from the northern part of the State and working 
southwards : — 
Moolyella Tinfield (Moolyella, Tadgebanna and Mud 
Springs). Manganocolumbite (niobate and tantalate of 
manganese) and at times a little manganotantalite (tantalate 
and niobate of manganese) present in all stream tin con- 
centrates. Quantities actually recorded were 8.5, 13.5, 
15.5, and 46.5 per cent. 
Cooglegong and Eleys. — Fergusonite (tantalate and 
niobate of yttrium, erbium, etc.) appears to be somewhat 
plentiful in small detrital masses. An analysis is given below 
of a typical fragment. Profs. Wedekind and Maas, of the 
Strasburg University, have recommended this material as a 
good basis for the preparation of tantalum and its compounds 
on a commercial scale, f Alluvial euxenite (tantalate, nio- 
bate and titanate of yttrium, etc.), columbite and tantalite 
have also been recorded in small quantities from this dis- 
trict. 
Lalla Rookh (16 miles north of). Detrital columbite, 
mostly well crystallised, has been obtained here. 
Green’s Well. — Columbite and tantalite, much of it 
well crystallised, have been obtained from here in alluvium 
and in a pegmatite vein. A small parcel has been marketed. 
A little microlite (tantalate of lime) occurred in this parcel. 
See analyses below. 
Wodgina. — Over 80 tons of high-grade tantalum ore 
(Mangano-tantalite) have been raised in this locality. It is 
found in situ in an albite pegmatite vein and as detrital 
masses on the slopes of the hills and in the stream beds, in 
the latter case with more or less tin ore. Mangano-columbite 
and ixiolite(stanno-tantalate of manganese) are also recorded 
from this centre. Analyses are given below. 
* “ Tantalum and Niobium in Australia,” Kept. Aust. Assoc. Adv. 
Sci., 1907. “ Further Occurrences of Tantalum and Niobium in 
Western Australia.” Kept. Aust. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1909. “ Tantalum 
(in W.A.),” Geol; Surv. W.A. Bull. 30. " Tantalite at Londonderry,” 
An. Prog. Rept. of the G.S.W.A. for 1909, p. 27. 
f Zeitschrift fur angew. Chemie, 1910, Heft 49, S. 2314. 
