Ampangabeite from Hazaribagh District, Bihar, India

The occurrence of a rare uranium mineral, Ampangabeite, has been noticed for the first time in India, in two localities of the Bihar mica belt during a survey of the area for deposits of atomic minerals. It forms an accessory constituent of the mica pegmatites and is found as pockets of varying sizes and mostly confined to the weathered perthite zone bordering the quartz core. The mineral is identified as ampangabeite based on a study of its similarity in the mode of occurrence and chemical composition with the one described from the type locality of Ampangabe, Madagascar.