United States’ lithium deposits

Clays and Other Sources. Sedimentary deposits, especially hthium-bearing clays found in the western United States, offer an additional source of lithium. These clays contain lithium-hearing trioctahedral smectites, of which hectorite [12173-47-6] NaQ23(Mg,Li)2Si402Q(F,0H)2, is one mineral. 

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. 

Lepidolite is a lithium potassium mica it also belongs to the class of aluminum silicates. Various empirical formulas have been proposed for it, probably because its actual composition varies somewhat. In fact, none of these minerals are pure crystals of definite composition. Of the lepidolite deposits which have been discovered in the United States so far, none warrant mining today. Lepidolite is processed in the United States, but the ore is imported from southern Africa. 

A specialized family of glasses used for high thermal shock resistance derived fi om very low thermal expansion is based on lithium oxide, or lithia. The major source of lithia is lepidolite, the most widespread of the lithia-containing minerals with deposits in the United States, Canada, Rhodesia,... 

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