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Formula: Al4Li2(OH)12(CO3)(H2O)3
Carbonate, hydrotalcite supergroup,
lithium-bearing mineral
Crystal system: Monoclinic
Specific gravity: 2.12 measured, 2.14 calculated
Hardness: 1
Colour: White or yellowish
Luminescence: Luminescent with a weak bluish-greenish colour after excitation with a mercury quartz lamp with both
short wave (254 nm) and medium wave (365 nm) filters and with green after excitation with a nitrogen laser
(λex = 337.1 nm)
(Mindat).
Solubility: easily soluble both in concentrated and diluted (up to 0.5 vol. %) hydrochloric and nitric acid followed by
the release of CO2
(Mindat).
Environments
Pegmatites
Metamorphic environments
Akopovaite is a relatively new mineral, approved in 2018.
Localities
At the Monte Copello-Reppia mine, Reppia, Ne, Genoa, Liguria, Italy, radial aggregates of white prisms of
akopovaite with a silky lustre have been found lying on
serpentinite
(Mindat photo).
Akopovaite from the Monte Copello-Reppia mine -
Image
At the Akopovaite type locality, Asan-Usun glacier, Karasu-Karavshinskoye, Turkestan Ridge, Batken Region, Kyrgyzstan,
akopovaite has been found in a zoned spodumene-bearing
pegmatite vein associated with
quartz-micaceous
schists. It occurs as a
hydrotalcite supergroup mineral in white or pale yellowish
rosette-like aggregates that are composed of tiny curved plates up to 30 μm in size, associated with
gibbsite, quartz,
albite, microcline,
muscovite, montebrasite,
siderite, schorl and
birnessite-like Fe–Mn oxides. Akopovaite has one perfect cleavage and
is transparent and very soft.
Akopovaite is the first naturally occurring
hydrotalcite supergroup carbonate species of Al and Li; its
synthetic analogue is known
(MM 84.2.301-311, HOM).
Akopovaite from the Asan-Usun glacier -
Image
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