Lueshite

specimen number:
2133437

location:
Lueshe, North Kivu, DR Congo

description:
From the type locality for the species, a sharp loose semi lustrous cubic crystal.

The Lueshe Mine, located in the Rutshuru Territory of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a prominent carbonatite-hosted deposit with a history centered on niobium extraction. Commercial exploration and industrial development began in the latter half of the twentieth century, though operations have frequently been impacted by regional conflicts. Geologically, the deposit consists of a Precambrian alkaline-carbonatite complex that intruded surrounding metamorphic schists and quartzites, later developing a weathered lateritic profile rich in pyrochlore group minerals. Lueshe is globally renowned in the geological and mineralogical communities as the type locality for lueshite, a rare sodium niobate mineral with a perovskite-type structure, which typically occurs as sharp, pseudocubic or octahedral crystals formed within the complex carbonatite environment.

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