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Dominant species
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Lepidolite
Lepidolite
Chemical
Formula
KLi2Al(Al,Si)3O10(F,OH)2
Species
Silicates
Crystal
System
Monoclinic
Mohs
Scale
2-3
Specific
Gravity
3.11
Color
Pink, purple, rose-red, Purple-gray, yellowish, white, colorless
Streak
White
Luster
Sub-Vitreous, Resinous, Greasy, Pearly
Refractive
Index
nα=1.525–1.548, nβ=1.551–1.58, nγ=1.554–1.586
Diaphaneity
Transparent, Translucent
Cleavage
Perfect perfect
Fracture
Micaceous
Crystal Habit:Tabular to prismatic pseudohexagonal crystals, scaly aggregates and massive
Geological Setting:May be found in aplites associated with granite pegmatite. rarely found in hydrothermal veins and extremely rarely in granite contact zones.
Lepidolite (KLi2Al(Al,Si)3O10(F,OH)2 is a lilac-gray or rose-colored polylithionite-trilithionite series, a phyllosilicate mineral series of the mica group that is a secondary source of lithium. It is associated with other lithium-bearing minerals like spodumene in pegmatite bodies. It is one of the major sources of the rare alkali metals rubidium and caesium. In 1861 Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff extracted 150 kg of lepidolite and yielded a few grams of rubidium salts for analysis, and therefore discovered the new element rubidium.

It occurs in granite pegmatites, in some high-temperature quartz veins, greisens and granites. Associated minerals include quartz, feldspar, spodumene, amblygonite, tourmaline, columbite, cassiterite, topaz and beryl.

Notable occurrences include Brazil; Ural Mountains, Russia; California, United States; Tanco Mine, Bernic Lake, Manitoba, Canada; and Madagascar.