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Ore mineral

Zircon

The zirconium mineral, mined from the same beach sands as ilmenite. Individual crystals are the oldest known fragments of Earth, over 4.3 billion years old.

Zircon-tuc1001b · Robert M. Lavinsky · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What it is

The zirconium mineral, mined from the same beach sands as ilmenite. Individual crystals are the oldest known fragments of Earth, over 4.3 billion years old.

Materials that come from it

Material	Role	Grade note
Hafnium	Sole source, ~2% of the zirconium in it	—
Zirconium	Only commercial source	—

Hafnium

Zirconium's chemical shadow — always found with it, almost impossible to separate from it, and the opposite of it in…

Nuclear MaterialsHf

Zirconium

A metal that barely absorbs neutrons, which is why nuclear fuel rods are wrapped in it, and whose sand form is a…

Nuclear MaterialsZr

Zircon

What it is

Materials that come from it

Hafnium

Zirconium

Materials

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