Formula: Fe²⁺Nb₂O₆

Species:

Colour: Black to brownish black

Lustre: Vitreous, Sub-Metallic

Hardness: 6

Specific Gravity: 5.2 – 6.65

Crystal System: Orthorhombic

Member of: Columbite Group

Name: Named in 1801 by Charles Hatchett (1765-1847) from a specimen collected in the mid-17th century in a place called Nautneague (now regarded as Haddam, Connecticut – USA). The specimen was from the mineral collection of John Winthrop (1606–1676), governor of Connecticut and was given to Hans Sloane by John Winthrop (1681–1747) who was the grandson of the governor with the same name. From the type specimen, Hatchett named the new element columbium (now called niobium). The current species, columbite-(Fe) retains the old root name and has the suffix -(Fe) to indicate the dominance of iron in the species. Columbite was the second species named from the USA, after celestine (q.v.)

Type Locality: Green’s Well pegmatite (Green’s Tank), Pilgangoora, East Pilbara Shire, Western Australia – Australia

Columbite was long used as a species name but is now split between the iron end-member columbite-(Fe) and the manganese end-member columbite-(Mn) and consequently is the name of an isomorphous series (see Columbite-(Fe)-Columbite-(Mn) Series). The name columbite usually refers to (the more common) columbite-(Fe), formerly known as ferrocolumbite.