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Phosphate minerals are those minerals that contain the tetrahedrally coordinated phosphate (PO43-) anion along with the freely substituting arsenate (AsO43-) and vanadate (VO43-). Chlorine (Cl-), fluorine (F-), and hydroxide (OH-) anions also fit into the crystal structure.
The phosphate class of minerals is a large and diverse group, however, only a few species are relatively common.
Phosphate minerals include:
- triphylite Li(Fe,Mn)PO4
- monazite (Ce,La,Y,Th)PO4
- Apatite group Ca5(PO4)3(F,Cl,OH)
- hydroxylapatite Ca5(PO4)3OH
- fluorapatite Ca5(PO4)3F
- chlorapatite Ca5(PO4)3Cl
- pyromorphite Pb5(PO4)3Cl
- vanadinite Pb5(VO4)3Cl
- erythrite Co3(AsO4)2·8H2O
- amblygonite LiAlPO4F
- lazulite (Mg,Fe)Al2(PO4)2(OH)2
- wavellite Al3(PO4)2(OH)3·5H2O
- turquoise CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8·5H2O
- autunite Ca(UO2)2(PO4)2·10-12H2O
- carnotite K2(UO2)2(VO4)2·3H2O
- phosphophyllite Zn2(Fe,Mn)(PO4)2•4H2O
- struvite (NH4)MgPO4·6H2O
Applications
Phosphate rock is a general term that refers to rock with high concentration of phosphate minerals, most commonly of the apatite group. It is the major resource mined to produce phosphate fertilisers for the agriculture sector. Phosphate is also used in animal feed supplements, food preservatives, anti-corrosion agents, cosmetics, fungicides, ceramics, water treatment and metallurgy.
The largest use of minerals mined for their phosphate content is the production of fertilizer.
Phosphate minerals are often used for control of rust and prevention of corrosion on ferrous materials applied with electrochemical conversion coatings.
See also
References
- Hurlbut, Cornelius S.; Klein, Cornelis, 1985, Manual of Mineralogy, 20th ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York ISBN 0-471-80580-7
- Webmineral - Strunz
- Webmineral - Dana
- - Australian Mineral Atlas
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 26 October 2008, at 21:26.
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