Amblygonite is a fluorophosphate mineral, (Li,Na)AlPO4(F,OH), composed of lithium, sodium, aluminium, phosphate, fluoride and hydroxide. The mineral occurs in pegmatite deposits and is easily mistaken for albite and other feldspars. Its density, cleavage and flame test for lithium are diagnostic. Amblygonite forms a series with montebrasite, the low fluorine endmember. Geologic occurrence is in granite pegmatites, high-temperature tin veins, and greisens. Amblygonite occurs with spodumene, apatite, lepidolite, tourmaline, and other lithium-bearing minerals in pegmatite veins. It contains about 10% lithium, and has been utilized as a source of lithium. The chief commercial sources have historically been the deposits of California and France.
Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and chlorapatite, with high concentrations of OH−, F− and Cl− ion, respectively, in the crystal. The formula of the admixture of the three most common endmembers is written as Ca10(PO4)6(OH,F,Cl)2, and the crystal unit cell formulae of the individual minerals are written as Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, Ca10(PO4)6F2 and Ca10(PO4)6Cl2.
Vanadinite is a mineral belonging to the apatite group of phosphates, with the chemical formula Pb5(VO4)3Cl. It is one of the main industrial ores of the metal vanadium and a minor source of lead. A dense, brittle mineral, it is usually found in the form of red hexagonal crystals. It is an uncommon mineral, formed by the oxidation of lead ore deposits such as galena. First discovered in 1801 in Mexico, vanadinite deposits have since been unearthed in South America, Europe, Africa, and North America.
Alforsite is a barium phosphate chloride mineral with formula: Ba5(PO4)3Cl. It was discovered in 1981, and named to honor geologist John T. Alfors (1930–2005) of the California Geological Survey for his work in the area where it was discovered.
Autunite (hydrated calcium uranyl phosphate), with formula Ca(UO2)2(PO4)2·10–12H2O, is a yellow-greenish fluorescent phosphate mineral with a hardness of 2–2+1⁄2. Autunite crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and often occurs as tabular square crystals, commonly in small crusts or in fan-like masses. Due to the moderate uranium content of 48.27% it is radioactive and also used as uranium ore. Autunite fluoresces bright green to lime green under UV light. The mineral is also called calco-uranite, but this name is rarely used and effectively outdated.
Brazilianite, whose name derives from its country of origin, Brazil, is a typically yellow-green phosphate mineral, most commonly found in phosphate-rich pegmatites.
Wavellite is an aluminium basic phosphate mineral with formula Al3(PO4)2(OH, F)3·5H2O. Distinct crystals are rare, and it normally occurs as translucent green radial or spherical clusters.
Lithiophilite is a mineral containing the element lithium. It is lithium manganese(II) phosphate with chemical formula LiMnPO4. It occurs in pegmatites often associated with triphylite, the iron end member in a solid solution series. The mineral with intermediate composition is known as sicklerite and has the chemical formula Li(Mn,Fe)PO4). The name lithiophilite is derived from the Greek philos (φιλός) "friend," as lithiophilite is usually found with lithium.
Brushite is a phosphate mineral with the chemical formula CaHPO4·2H2O. Crystals of the pure compound belong to the monoclinic space group C2/c and are colorless. It is the phosphate analogue of the arsenate pharmacolite.
Libethenite is a rare copper phosphate hydroxide mineral. It forms striking, dark green orthorhombic crystals. It was discovered in 1823 in Ľubietová, Slovakia and is named after the German name of that locality (Libethen). Libethenite has also been found in the Miguel Vacas Mine, Conceição, Vila Viçosa, Évora District, Portugal, and in Tier des Carrières, Cahai, Vielsaim, Stavelot Massif, Luxembourg Province, Belgium.
Whitlockite is a mineral, an unusual form of calcium phosphate. Its formula is Ca9(MgFe)(PO4)6PO3OH. It is a relatively rare mineral but is found in granitic pegmatites, phosphate rock deposits, guano caves and in chondrite meteorites. It was first described in 1941 and named for Herbert Percy Whitlock (1868–1948), American mineralogist and curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Fluorapatite, often with the alternate spelling of fluoroapatite, is a phosphate mineral with the formula Ca5(PO4)3F (calcium fluorophosphate). Fluorapatite is a hard crystalline solid. Although samples can have various color (green, brown, blue, yellow, violet, or colorless), the pure mineral is colorless, as expected for a material lacking transition metals. Along with hydroxylapatite, it can be a component of tooth enamel, but for industrial use both minerals are mined in the form of phosphate rock, whose usual mineral composition is primarily fluorapatite but often with significant amounts of the other.
Scorzalite ((Fe2+,Mg)Al2(OH,PO4)2) is a dark blue phosphate mineral containing iron, magnesium, and aluminium phosphate. Scorzalite forms one endmember of a solid solution series with the lighter, more magnesium-rich lazulite.
Eosphorite is a brown (occasionally pink) manganese hydrous phosphate mineral with chemical formula: MnAl(PO4)(OH)2·H2O. It is used as a gemstone.
Berlinite (aluminium phosphate, chemical formula AlPO4 or Al(PO4)) is a rare high-temperature hydrothermal or metasomatic phosphate mineral. It has the same crystal structure as quartz with a low temperature polytype isostructural with α–quartz and a high temperature polytype isostructural with β–quartz. Berlinite can vary from colorless to greyish or pale pink and has translucent crystals.
Cesanite is the end member of the apatite-wilkeite-ellestadite series that substitutes all of apatite's phosphate ions with sulfate ions and balances the difference in charge by replacing several calcium ions with sodium ions. Currently very few sites bearing cesanite have been found and are limited to a geothermal field in Cesano, Italy from which its name is derived, Măgurici Cave in Romania, and in the San Salvador Island caves in the Bahamas.
Cyrilovite (NaFe33+(PO4)2(OH)4·2(H2O)) is a hydrous sodium iron phosphate mineral. It is isomorphous and isostructural with wardite, the sodium aluminium counterpart.
Pseudomalachite is a phosphate of copper with hydroxyl, named from the Greek for “false” and “malachite”, because of its similarity in appearance to the carbonate mineral malachite, Cu2(CO3)(OH)2. Both are green coloured secondary minerals found in oxidised zones of copper deposits, often associated with each other. Pseudomalachite is polymorphous with reichenbachite and ludjibaite. It was discovered in 1813. Prior to 1950 it was thought that dihydrite, lunnite, ehlite, tagilite and prasin were separate mineral species, but Berry analysed specimens labelled with these names from several museums, and found that they were in fact pseudomalachite. The old names are no longer recognised by the IMA.
Minyulite is a rare phosphate mineral with a chemical formula of KAl2(PO4)2F·4(H2O).
Ludlamite is a rare phosphate mineral with chemical formula (Fe,Mn,Mg)3(PO4)2·4H2O. It was first described in 1877 for an occurrence in Wheal Jane mine in Cornwall, England and named for English mineralogist Henry Ludlam (1824–1880).
