Min. [f. *thorian (f. THORIA) + -ITE1 2 b.] A mineral consisting chiefly of the oxides of thorium, uranium, and other rare metals, found in 1904 in the south-west of Ceylon, in small brownish-black crystals having a resinous luster; a variety of pitch-blende.
1904. Dunstan, in Nature, 31 March, 510. This mineral appears to be new, and I suggest for it the name of thorianite.
1907. Daily Chron., 5 Jan., 2/5. The discovery of deposits of the very valuable mineral thorianite, containing something like 80 per cent. of the rare earth thoria, which is used in the manufacture of incandescent gas mantles.
