Lithiophosphate
Natural lithium orthophosphate — an exceedingly rare mineral of specialized lithium pegmatites.
Intro adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Lithiophosphate is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the phosphate class, with the chemical formula Li₃(PO₄).
It crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system (space group Pcmn).
Key properties: Mohs hardness 4; specific gravity 2.46–2.48; Vitreous luster; optically biaxial.
IMA symbol Lip, grandfathered status — known before the IMA’s founding, named in 1957.
Formed by hydrothermal replacement of montebrasite in the core of a granite pegmatite in amphibolite (Mt. Okhmyl’k, Russia); in a lithium-rich granite pegmatite (Foote mine, North Carolina, USA).
It is found associated with Montebrasite, apatite, quartz, spodumene, lepidolite, beryl, elbaite, pollucite, tantalite, cassiterite, microcline (Mt. Okhmyl’k, Russia); leucophosphite.
The name refers to its content of lithium and phosphate.