Spodumene deposits

Examples of Various Types of Spodumene Deposits (Heinrich et al., 1977)... 

The most important mineral for the industrial extraction of lithium is spodumene (LiAlSi206), which is found together with lepidolite, petalite and amblygonite (all with Li contents of 4 to 7%) and in salt lakes. The largest known reserves are in Chile (largest known deposit), Australia, USA and Canada. The main producer countries are the USA (North Carolina), Chile, Australia, Russia, Zimbabwe, Brazil and China. The worldwide reserves including the lithium content in salt lakes is estimated to be 7.3 10 t (as lithium), of which 60% is in salt lakes. 

Lithium occurs in silicate ores (minerals that principally contain silicon and oxygen) in association with aluminum and the other alkalis The principal ore is spodumene (LiAlSi2Og). Lithium mining occurs mostly in the United States, Russia, China, and Australia, and in addition, it is extracted from salt deposits in Chile. 

Amblygonite, which is a lithium aluminum fluorophosphate, does not occur in large enough deposits to be worked independently. It is often found in association with spodumene ores. 

Beryl is a byproduct of other minerals occurring in pegmatites such as spodumene and lepi-dolite and is normally recovered through hand sorting. Commercial beryl contains roughly 10 wt.% BeO (i.e., 3.6 wL% Be metal), while bertrandite ore deposits are mined by an open-pit method, such as the US ore deposits of Delta in Utah, processed by Brush Wellman. 

Large deposits of spodumene have been found in Manono in the Democratic Republic of Congo and of petalite and lepidoHte in Bikita in Zimbabwe. Investigations of pegmatite deposits in Greenbushes, Western Australia, have also revealed large reserves of spodumene. 

In northwest China, in the Altai mountains, considerable deposits of spodumene have been reported. 

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