Images
Formula: Mn2+Fe3+2(PO4)2(OH)2.8H2O
Hydrated phosphate containing hydroxyl, laueite group,
paramorph of
stewartite, manganese-bearing
mineral
Crystal System: Triclinic
Specific gravity: 2.44 to 2.49 measured, 2.56 calculated
Hardness: 3
Streak: White
Colour: Honey-brown, amber, yellow, dark yellow, yellow-orange, reddish orange
Environments:
Laueite is a common late-stage mineral in oxidised triphylite-bearing
granite pegmatites
(HOM).
Localities
At the type Locality, the Hagendorf South Pegmatite, Waidhaus, Neustadt an der Waldnaab, Upper Palatinate, Bavaria, Germany,
laueite is
associated with rockbridgeite
(HOM).
At the Emmons pegmatite, Greenwood, Oxford county, Maine, USA, laueite is associated with
strunzite or beraunite. The Emmons
pegmatite is an example of a highly evolved
boron-lithium-cesium-tantalum
enriched pegmatite
(R&M 94.6.510).
At the Palermo No. 1 mine, Groton, Grafton county, New Hampshire, USA, laueite is associated with
rockbridgeite,
strunzite, stewartite and
pseudolaueite, all implanted on siderite and
ludlamite
(AM 50.1884-1892 HOM).
At the Keyes Mica Quarries, Orange, Grafton County, New Hampshire, USA, the
pegmatites are beryl-type
rare-element (RE) pegmatites.
The Number 1 mine exposed a pegmatite that shows the most
complex zonation and diverse mineralogy of any of the Keyes
pegmatites. Six zones are distinguished, as follows, proceeding
inward from the margins of the pegmatite:
(1) quartz-muscovite-plagioclase
border zone, 2.5 to 30.5 cm thick
(2) plagioclase-quartz-muscovite
wall zone, 0.3 to 2.4 metres thick
(3) plagioclase-quartz-perthite-biotite
outer intermediate zone, 0.3 to 5.2 metres thick, with lesser muscovite
(4) quartz-plagioclase-muscovite
middle intermediate zone, 15.2 to 61.0 cm thick
(5) perthite-quartz inner intermediate zone, 0.9 to 4.6 meters thick
(6) quartz core, 1.5 to 3.0 metres across
The inner and outer intermediate zones contained perthite crystals up to
1.2 meters in size that were altered to vuggy
albite-muscovite with
fluorapatite crystals. This unit presumably was the source of the
albite, muscovite,
fluorapatite, quartz and other
crystallised minerals found in pieces of vuggy albite
rock on the dumps next to the mine.
The middle intermediate zone produced sheet mica with accessory minerals including
tourmaline, graftonite,
triphylite, vivianite,
pyrite, pyrrhotite, and
beryl crystals to 30.5 cm long and 12.7 cm across.
Laueite occurs rarely among the secondary phosphates. It
forms orange crystals about 1 mm long, associated with strunzite,
scorzalite, beraunite and other
phosphates
(R&M 97.4.320).
Back to Minerals