monazite

Monazite is a primarily reddish-brown phosphate mineral that contains rare-earth elements. It occurs usually in small isolated crystals. There are five different most common species of monazite, depending on the relative amounts of the rare earth elements in the mineral : monazite-(Ce) (the most common member), monazite-(La), monazite-(Nd), monazite-(Sm), and monazite-(Pr). Monazite is radioactive due to the presence of thorium and uranium. Monazite was the only significant source of commercial lanthanides.

The name monazite comes from the Ancient Greek monazein (to be solitary) in allusion to its isolated crystals. “Named in 1829 by Johann Friedrich August Breithaupt from the Greek μουάζω “to be solitary” in allusion to the rarity of its presence in the first known localities. “

Johann Friedrich August Breithaupt was a German mineralogist. He studied at the Freiberg Mining Academy where he received an appointment in 1813 as teacher and lapidary, and become professor of mineralogy after the departure of Friedrich Mohs in 1826. He hold the post until his retirement in 1866. He became blind soon after he retired, and this put an end to his mineralogical activity, which had been intensive until then.

Breithaupt named many minerals. Of the more than eighty mineral names devised by Breithaupt, about half – including such important ones as monazite, phlogopite, and orthoclase – are still regarded as referring to valid species.

The Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg is a public university of technology in the city of Freiberg, Saxony, in Germany. The university’s focuses are exploration, mining, extraction, processing, and recycling of natural resources and scrap, as well as developing new materials and researching renewable energies. It is the oldest university of mining and metallurgy in the world.

The institution was established in 1765, during the Age of Enlightenment by Prince Francis Xavier of Saxony. Its main purpose was the education of highly skilled miners and scientists in fields connected to mining and metallurgy. There had developed a need for mining, as an industry to regenerate Saxony’s economy, since Saxony had been defeated in the Seven Years’ War.

Franz Xavier of Saxony was a Saxon prince.

The Electorate of Saxony was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a major Holy Roman state, being an electorate and the original protecting power of Protestant principalities.

The prince-electors were the members of the Electoral College of the Holy Roman Empire, which elected the Holy Roman Emperor.

The Seven Years’ War (1756 - 1763) was a global Great Power war fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The warring states were Great Britain and Prussia, fighting against France and Austria, with other countries joining these coalitions : Portugal, Spain, Saxony, Sweden, and Russia.

At the time, Saxony was ruled by Elector Frederick Augustus II, who was also King Augustus III of Poland. The Electorate of Saxony was part of the Holy Roman Empire, and though relatively small, it was politically important and strategically located between Prussia, Austria, and Poland. Saxony leaned toward Austria and France, both of whom were preparing to resist Prussian expansion after Frederick the Great’s seizure of Silesia in the previous War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748).

Frederick the Great of Prussia suspected that Saxony was secretly joining the anti-Prussian coalition forming around Austria, France, and Russia. Acting preemptively, he launched an invasion of Saxony in August 1756, before formal hostilities were declared—this marked the actual beginning of the Seven Years’ War.

Saxony’s army was surrounded at Pirna and forced to surrender. This was catastrophic. Most of its soldiers were forcibly conscripted into the Prussian army, while the Elector, Augustus III of Poland, fled to Warsaw and could do little to defend his German lands.

For the rest of the war, Saxony remained under Prussian military occupation, serving as a base of operations and a source of supplies for Frederick’s campaigns. The Prussians imposed heavy war taxes, requisitioned food, horses, and goods, and treated the region as conquered territory. Saxon administration and infrastructure nearly collapsed.

When the war ended with the Treaty of Hubertusburg (1763), Saxony technically regained its sovereignty, but in practice it emerged devastated and impoverished. Its economy was shattered, its population reduced, and its political independence badly weakened. Although it formally rejoined the Holy Roman Empire, Saxony could no longer act as a major regional power.

When the war ended in 1763, Saxony was economically devastated. Its mines in the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge)—once a key source of silver, tin, and other metals—had been flooded, damaged, or abandoned. The mining sector had been the backbone of Saxony’s wealth since the late Middle Ages, so reviving it was essential to the region’s recovery.

Recognizing this, Prince-Elector Frederick Augustus II’s administration (actually guided by reform-minded ministers such as Friedrich Anton von Heynitz and Friedrich Wilhelm von Oppel) decided that rebuilding Saxony’s economy required a modern, scientifically trained workforce. In 1765, they founded the Bergakademie Freiberg, the first mining science academy in the world.

Prabowo witnessed the handover of six smelters seized by the Attorney General’s Office from illegal mining operations to PT Timah in Bangka Belitung on Monday, October 6, 2025. According to Prabowo, from the sites of the six illegal smelters confiscated in Bangka Belitung, piles of rare earth elements containing monazite of very high value were found. The value of one ton of monazite can reach 200,000 US dollars, equivalent to around 3.3 billion rupiah per ton. In the area of the illegal smelters, Prabowo estimated there were about 40,000 tons of monazite.