What is "behierite"

n. (context mineral English) A tetragonal-ditetragonal dipyramidal pink gray mineral containing boron, niobium, oxygen, and tantalum.

Béhierite is a very rare mineral, a natural tantalum borate of the formula (Ta,Nb)BO. Béhierite is also one of the most simple tantalum minerals. It contains simple tetrahedral borate anions, instead of more common among minerals, planar BO groups. It forms a solid solution with its niobium-analogue, schiavinatoite. Both have zircon-type structure (tetragonal, space group I4/amd) and are found in pegmatites. Béhierite and holtite are minerals with essential tantalum and boron.

Béhierite was named for Jean Béhier (1903–1965), who discovered the mineral in 1959, as a French mineralogist, active in the Service Géologique, on the island of Madagascar.