WOLFRAMITE, or WOLFRAM

This article appears in Volume V28, Page 775 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: WIL-YAK

WOLFRAMITE, or WOLFRAM , a

mineral

MINERAL

consisting of iron-manganese tungstate, (Fe, Mn)WO4. The name is of doubtful origin, but it has been assumed that it is derived from the German Wolf and Rahm (froth), corresponding with the spuma lupi of old writers, a term hardly appropriate, however, to the

mineral

MINERAL

in question. Wolframite crystallizes in the monoclinic system, with approximation to an orthorhombic type; and the crystals offer perfect pinacoidal cleavage. The colour of wolframite is generally dark brownish-black, the lustre metallic or adamantine, the hardness 5 to 5.5, and the specific gravity 7.1 to 7.5. Wolframite may be regarded as an isomorphous mixture, in variable ratio, of iron and manganese tungstates, sometimes with a small proportion of niobic and tantalic acids. It was in wolframite that the metal tungsten was first recognized in 1785 by two brothers, J. J. and F. d'Elhuyar. At the present time the mineral is used in the manufacture of tungsten-steel and in the preparation of certain tungstates.
Wolframite is commonly associated with tin-ores, as in many parts of

Cornwall

CORNWALL

, Saxony and Bohemia. In consequence of the two minerals, cassiterite and wolframite, having nearly the same density, their separation becomes difficult by the

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

processes of ore-dressing, but may be effected by means of magnetic separators, the wolf ramite being attracted by powerful magnets. A process introduced many years ago by R. Oxland consisted in roasting the mixed ore with carbonate of soda, when the wolfram was converted into sodium tungstate, which was easily removed as a soluble salt. Wolf ramite occurs at many localities in the United States, notably at

Trumbull

, Conn., where it has been

mined

MINED

, and at

Monroe

MONROE
MONROE, JAMES (1758-1831)

, Conn., where it accompanies bismuth ores. Other localities are in Mecklenburg county, N.C., and in the Mammoth mining

district

DISTRICT

, Nevada. Wolframite has in some cases resulted from the alteration of

scheelite

SCHEELITE

(q.v.), though on the contrary pseudomorphs are known in which

scheelite

SCHEELITE

has taken the form of wolframite. By oxidation wolframite may become encrusted with tungstic ochre, or tungstite, sometimes known as wolframine, a name to be carefully distinguished from wolf ramite.
As the relative proportions of iron and manganese vary in wolframite, the composition tends towards that of other minerals. Thus there is a manganous tungstate (MnWO4) known as hi bnerite, a name given by E. N. Riotte, in 1865, in compliment to Adolph Hiibner, a Saxon mineralogist. There is also a mineral which contains little more than ferrous tungstate (FeWO4), and is known as ferberite, having been named by A. Breithaupt in 1863 after Rudolph Ferber. The

original

ORIGINAL

hiibnerite came from the Mammoth

district

DISTRICT

, Nevada, and the ferberite from the Sierra Almagrera in Spain. It is possible that such minerals may represent the extreme terms in the

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

formed by the varieties of wolframite.
(F. W. R.*)

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