Talk:Cryolite

mistatement

This following is a mistatement:

"The difficulty in the extraction of aluminium was in its high melting point (above 2000°C). Cryolite lowers the melting point to approximately 900°C to conserve energy"

The high melting point refers to the Oxide. I suggest the following correction:

"The difficulty in the extraction of aluminium was the oxides' high melting point (above 2000°C). Cryolite lowers the melting point to approximately 900°C to conserve energy"

````John Turner jmtwilldoit2@hotmail.com

Common Misunderstanding

The cryolite does not lower the melting point of aluminium oxides. However, the aluminium oxide can be dissolved in molten cryolite at around 900°C. This frees the ions of the aluminium oxide, allowing the positive aluminium ions to collect at the cathode(s), and the negative oxygen ions to collect at the anode(s). It essentially gives the same effect as if the aluminium oxides were in a molten state.

Harim.chicken 13:21, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Merge with sodium hexafluoroaluminate

There is no doubt that these two articles should be merged. Cryolite is the mineral name for sodium hexafluoroaluminate Petergans 09:36, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

This is a mineral article as opposed to a chemical compound and should remain separate with different emphases. Vsmith 14:09, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

I've cross-linked with See also. Maybe links in text would be preferable. I almost added it to Category:Aluminium minerals, but they seem to begin with Al, whereas this begins with Na (Can't remember the terminology !). Most don't map as neatly to a single chemical, so hard to tell from precedent the best way ! Wikipedia:WikiProject_Rocks_and_Minerals would know ...

--195.137.93.171 (talk) 21:51, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

The chemical is linked in the first line, so the see also is redundant. A simple link to the chem compound is sufficient, this is a mineral article. Removed chemical compound cats and parent cat per convention. The rock n mineral project has been rather inactive for quite a while. Vsmith (talk) 02:56, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Personally I agree that cryolite and Sodium hexafluoroaluminate should be combined, however if not then it should at least have an info box as most of the article includes these details. As mentioned the Rock and mineral project has been working on such an infobox but it appears consensus has yet to be made yet.Darkwraith (talk) 20:23, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Syntesis

The syntesis of this mineral is made by reaction of HF and an alloy of sodium and aluminum: 6 HF + AlNa3 -----> Na3AlF6 + 3 H2 Agre22 (talk) 00:26, 14 June 2009 (UTC)agre22

Cryolite

Cryolite (Na3AlF6, sodium hexafluoroaluminate) is an uncommon mineral identified with the once-large deposit at Ivittuut on the west coast of Greenland, depleted by 1987. 103.97.161.130 (talk) 19:32, 11 April 2022 (UTC)

Color assignment in description

Correct the color assignment in description! 2605:59C8:419A:A910:55CE:CF8C:159A:90CE (talk) 02:01, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Totally MISSING !

I am not expert in any way, but I've seen this type of info in a number of places & I believe it is IMPORTANT to include ? Please someone with real Knowledge Edit main page !!

CONSIDERED A HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE ACCORDING TO OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200. Toxic: danger of serious damage to health by prolonged exposure through inhalation and if swallowed. 99.82.232.48 (talk) 18:11, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

2025 documentary and following controversy

A 2025 documentary "Grønlands hvide guld" (Greenland's white gold) is a 55-minute film about the Danish exploitation over several decades of a cryolite mine in southern Greenland and the vast sums of money it generated. The financial analysis in the documentary attracted controversy and the documentary was quickly withdrawn. I am not sure how to weave such a conflicted account into this Wikipedia article. But I will add a reference in case someone else wants to do so. Note that the disputed economics is already present in the main article. Best, RobbieIanMorrison (talk) 19:04, 13 April 2025 (UTC)

References