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Lepidolite

 
Lepidolite

 
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Lepidolite (KLi2Al(Al,Si)3O10(F,OH)2 is a lilac-gray or rose-colored phyllosilicate
Silicate minerals

The silicate minerals make up the largest and most important class of rock-forming minerals, comprising approximately 90 percent of the crust of the Earth....
 mineral
Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
 of the mica
Mica

The mica group of sheet silicate minerals includes several closely related materials having highly perfect basal cleavage. All are monoclinic with a tendency towards pseudo-hexagonal crystals and are similar in chemical composition....
 group that is a secondary source of lithium
Lithium

Lithium is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft alkali metal with a silver-white color. Under standard conditions for temperature and pressure, it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element....
. It is associated with other lithium-bearing minerals like spodumene
Spodumene

Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium Silicate minerals - lithiumaluminum2 - and is a source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish or lilac kunzite , yellowish-green or emerald-green hiddenite, prismatic crystals, often of great size....
 in pegmatite
Pegmatite

Pegmatite is a very coarse-grained igneous rock that has a grain size of 20 mm or more; such rocks are referred to as pegmatitic.Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar and mica; in essence a "granite"....
 bodies. It is one of the major sources of the rare alkali metal
Alkali metal

The alkali metals are a chemical series of chemical elements comprising Periodic table group of the periodic table: lithium , sodium , potassium , rubidium , caesium , and francium ....
s rubidium
Rubidium

Rubidium is a chemical element with the symbol Rb and atomic number 37. Rb is a soft, silvery-white metallic element of the alkali metal group....
 and caesium
Caesium

Caesium or cesium is the chemical element with the symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft, silvery-gold alkali metal with a melting point of , which makes it one of only liquid metal that are liquid at or near room temperature....
. In 1861 Robert Bunsen
Robert Bunsen

Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen was a Germany chemist. He investigated electromagnetic spectroscopy of heated elements, and with Gustav Kirchhoff he discovered cesium and rubidium....
 and Gustav Kirchhoff
Gustav Kirchhoff

Gustav Robert Kirchhoff was a Germany physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects....
 extracted 150 kg of lepidolite and yielded few grams of rubidium salts for analysis, and therefore discovered the new element rubidium.

It occurs in granite
Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of Intrusion , felsic, igneous rock rock . Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as Porphyry ....
 pegmatite
Pegmatite

Pegmatite is a very coarse-grained igneous rock that has a grain size of 20 mm or more; such rocks are referred to as pegmatitic.Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar and mica; in essence a "granite"....
s, in some high-temperature quartz veins, greisen
Greisen

Greisen is a highly altered granite rock or pegmatite. Greisen is formed by autogenic alteration of a granite and is a class of skarn.Greisens appear as highly metasomatism rocks, partly coarse, crystalline granite, partly vugh with miarolitic cavities, disseminated halide minerals such as fluorite, and occasionally metallic oxide and sulfi...
s, and granites.






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Lepidolite (KLi2Al(Al,Si)3O10(F,OH)2 is a lilac-gray or rose-colored phyllosilicate
Silicate minerals

The silicate minerals make up the largest and most important class of rock-forming minerals, comprising approximately 90 percent of the crust of the Earth....
 mineral
Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
 of the mica
Mica

The mica group of sheet silicate minerals includes several closely related materials having highly perfect basal cleavage. All are monoclinic with a tendency towards pseudo-hexagonal crystals and are similar in chemical composition....
 group that is a secondary source of lithium
Lithium

Lithium is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft alkali metal with a silver-white color. Under standard conditions for temperature and pressure, it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element....
. It is associated with other lithium-bearing minerals like spodumene
Spodumene

Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium Silicate minerals - lithiumaluminum2 - and is a source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish or lilac kunzite , yellowish-green or emerald-green hiddenite, prismatic crystals, often of great size....
 in pegmatite
Pegmatite

Pegmatite is a very coarse-grained igneous rock that has a grain size of 20 mm or more; such rocks are referred to as pegmatitic.Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar and mica; in essence a "granite"....
 bodies. It is one of the major sources of the rare alkali metal
Alkali metal

The alkali metals are a chemical series of chemical elements comprising Periodic table group of the periodic table: lithium , sodium , potassium , rubidium , caesium , and francium ....
s rubidium
Rubidium

Rubidium is a chemical element with the symbol Rb and atomic number 37. Rb is a soft, silvery-white metallic element of the alkali metal group....
 and caesium
Caesium

Caesium or cesium is the chemical element with the symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft, silvery-gold alkali metal with a melting point of , which makes it one of only liquid metal that are liquid at or near room temperature....
. In 1861 Robert Bunsen
Robert Bunsen

Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen was a Germany chemist. He investigated electromagnetic spectroscopy of heated elements, and with Gustav Kirchhoff he discovered cesium and rubidium....
 and Gustav Kirchhoff
Gustav Kirchhoff

Gustav Robert Kirchhoff was a Germany physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects....
 extracted 150 kg of lepidolite and yielded few grams of rubidium salts for analysis, and therefore discovered the new element rubidium.

It occurs in granite
Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of Intrusion , felsic, igneous rock rock . Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as Porphyry ....
 pegmatite
Pegmatite

Pegmatite is a very coarse-grained igneous rock that has a grain size of 20 mm or more; such rocks are referred to as pegmatitic.Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar and mica; in essence a "granite"....
s, in some high-temperature quartz veins, greisen
Greisen

Greisen is a highly altered granite rock or pegmatite. Greisen is formed by autogenic alteration of a granite and is a class of skarn.Greisens appear as highly metasomatism rocks, partly coarse, crystalline granite, partly vugh with miarolitic cavities, disseminated halide minerals such as fluorite, and occasionally metallic oxide and sulfi...
s, and granites. Associated minerals include quartz
Quartz

Quartz is the most abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust . It is made up of a Crystal structure of silica tetrahedra. Quartz has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale and a density of 2.65 g/cm?....
, feldspar
Feldspar

Feldspars are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals which make up as much as 60% of the Earth's Crust .Feldspars crystallize from magma in both intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks, as veins, and are also present in many types of metamorphic rock....
, spodumene
Spodumene

Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium Silicate minerals - lithiumaluminum2 - and is a source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish or lilac kunzite , yellowish-green or emerald-green hiddenite, prismatic crystals, often of great size....
, amblygonite
Amblygonite

Amblygonite is a fluorophosphate mineral, AlPO4, composed of lithium, sodium, aluminium, phosphate, fluoride and hydroxide. The mineral occurs in pegmatite deposits and is easily mistaken for albite and other feldspars....
, tourmaline
Tourmaline

Tourmaline is a crystal silicate mineral compounded with elements such as aluminium, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium. Tourmaline is classed as a semi-precious stone and the gem comes in a wide variety of colors....
, columbite, cassiterite
Cassiterite

Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, tin dioxide. It is generally opaque but is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem....
, topaz
Topaz

Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula aluminium2siliconoxygen42. Topaz crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and its crystals are mostly prismatic terminated by pyramidal and other faces, the basal pinacoid often being present....
, and beryl
Beryl

The mineral beryl is a beryllium aluminium Silicate minerals#Cyclosilicates with the chemical formula Be3Al26. The hexagonal crystals of beryl may be very small or range to several meters in size....
.

Notable occurrences: Brazil; Ural Mountains, Russia; California; Tanco Pegmatite, Bernic Lake Manitoba, Canada, Madagascar.