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Dittmarite mineral

Dittmarite is the magnesium ammonium phosphate monohydrate mineral species, (NH4)Mg(PO4)(H2O), grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list with original-description year 1887. It is distinct from struvite, which contains six waters per formula unit, and from elemental magnesium or phosphorus. The studied synthetic feed was XRD-identified as dittmarite despite being called synthetic struvite throughout much of the paper. The same Suyamud 2020 experiment is represented under magnesium and glushinskite; this is not an independent study or an inherited criticality designation.

Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)

Fungal dissolution and secondary oxalate formation from a dittmarite feed

bioleaching Microbial

Associated Organisms: Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015 (NCBITaxon:380704)

Growing Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015 produced a clearing zone and acidification on synthetic dittmarite-containing agar. Crystals collected after growth were identified as glushinskite, supporting mineral transformation with secondary magnesium oxalate formation rather than a recovered soluble-magnesium product.

Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
The synthetic feed was precipitated from MgCl2, NH4Cl and K2HPO4 solution adjusted to pH 8.5 with NaOH, filtered and desiccated at ambient temperature for at least two days; XRD identified dittmarite. The selected agar treatment used 1% w/v feed in malt extract agar, a 5-mm actively growing mycelial plug on cellophane, and incubation at 25 degrees C in darkness for seven days. Collected crystals were extracted from agar with 80-degree-C water, washed at least three times and vacuum-desiccated before analysis. Natural-struvite and liquid-culture arms are separate comparisons; no liquid-culture yield is imported here.
Curated Evidence Points:
Experimental procedures identify the synthetic feed as the monohydrate, and Figure 5D compares its diffraction trace with the dittmarite reference. Figure 1C shows a clearing zone in the 1% synthetic-feed plate after three days; Figures 3E-F, 4D and 5B characterize post-growth crystals at seven days as Mg-containing oxalate dihydrate. Table 2 gives the 1% synthetic-feed agar pH as 7.06 +/- 0.01 initially and 4.09 +/- 0.45 at seven days, means +/- SD from three independent replicates.
A clearing zone and an identified secondary phase do not quantify the fraction of dittmarite dissolved or recovered. The feed and mineral-free fungal controls do not isolate acidification from oxalate-specific chemistry using matched abiotic conditions. Amorphous debris is also reported, so complete conversion or phase-pure glushinskite yield is not asserted. The laboratory synthetic-feed result does not establish behavior of every natural dittmarite occurrence or industrial deployment.

Sources & References

  1. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC. The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026. PDF page 58, Dittmarite row; page 1 column definitions and page 2 distribution terms.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-11)
  2. suyamud_2020: Suyamud, Ferrier, Csetenyi, Inthorn and Gadd (2020). Biotransformation of struvite by Aspergillus niger: phosphate release and magnesium biomineralization as glushinskite. Environmental Microbiology 22(4):1588-1602. DOI 10.1111/1462-2920.14949; Table 2, Figures 1 and 3-5, Experimental procedures: organisms, struvite preparation, solid-medium solubilization, crystal purification and XRD.
    https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14949 (accessed 2026-10-11)
  3. ncbi_atcc1015: NCBI Taxonomy 380704 - Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015; exact strain entry verified by taxonomy XML on 11 October 2026.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=380704&mode=Info (accessed 2026-10-11)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-11T09:57:32.863736+00:00 codex (GPT-6; codex) CREATE Created dittmarite mineral identity with bounded fungal transformation of an XRD-identified synthetic feed.

Record source: data/records/dittmarite.yaml