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Libethenite mineral

Libethenite is the copper hydroxide phosphate mineral Cu2(PO4)(OH). The September 2026 IMA list records grandfathered status G and the historical year 1823, not a numbered approval proposal. It is distinct from elemental copper, unspecified copper phosphates and waste printed circuit boards. The experiment below assigned a laboratory filter-residue phase to libethenite in an uninoculated leaching comparator; no natural libethenite ore, pure product or inherited criticality is asserted.

Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)

Libethenite-assigned precipitation in an uninoculated board-leaching comparator

other

Powder diffraction assigned libethenite to solids retained from waste-computer board leaching in acidic phosphate-containing 0K medium without a deliberate microbial inoculum. The study's separate Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans arm did not show the corresponding assigned peaks. The accepted formation observation is the uninoculated comparator, not microbial production of libethenite; the experiment does not establish that bacterial metabolism alone prevented its formation. Uninoculated does not mean independently verified sterile.

Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
Washed and oven-dried waste-computer board pieces below 1 cm2 were tested at 5 g in a reported 50 mL liquid in 50 mL conical tubes, at 30 degrees C in a shaking incubator for seven days, with three repetitions. Treatments were deionized water, 0K medium, and 0K with 1 mL A. ferrooxidans KCTC4516 culture concentrate. 0K was the stated 9K recipe without added FeSO4.7H2O: per liter, 3 g (NH4)2SO4, 0.1 g KCl, 0.5 g K2HPO4, 0.5 g MgSO4.7H2O, 0.0144 g Ca(NO3)2.4H2O and 1 mL 10 N H2SO4. Results 3.2 describes medium adjustment to pH 2; no board-assay pH series or separate shaking speed is supplied. Daily liquid samples were passed through 0.2 micrometer acetate nitrate membranes for ICP-OES; retained material underwent XRD and SEM-EDS. The exact collection time and replicate selection of the displayed diffraction specimens are not specified. The stated tube/liquid volumes leave headspace unresolved. The comparator inoculum was grown in iron-rich 9K for seven days; washing and equivalent sterile spent-culture additions are unreported, so carried-over chemistry is not excluded.
Curated Evidence Points:
Support Source: an2021
Section 3.3 and Figure 3b label multiple libethenite reflections in the uninoculated 0K filter residue. Figure 3a shows the water comparator and Figure 3c the inoculated comparator without those assigned peaks. The source proposes reaction of copper mobilized from boards with medium anions; no phase-specific composition, refinement, fraction, mineral mass balance or isolated-product yield is reported. The mixed filter residue is not phase-pure libethenite or a natural mineral specimen.
Partial Source: an2021
The inoculated diffraction trace is a source-reported nondetection, not quantified zero libethenite or proof that all copper solids are absent. No diffraction detection limit or matched killed-cell, washed-cell or spent-medium control isolates metabolic suppression. Figure 1 measures growth and iron oxidation in a separate 9K preculture; it is not direct redox evidence in the board incubation. Figure 2a liquid copper concentrations do not supply a libethenite dissolution or precipitation yield, and no starting board copper inventory was measured for an extraction denominator.
Partial Source: an2021
Figure 4 labels and caption identify water panels a-b, 0K panels c-d and inoculated panels e-f; several Section 3.3 prose references conflict with those labels. EDS supports elements in mixed retained material, not exclusive libethenite, amorphous iron-oxide or jarosite identities. Methods specifies 5 kV SEM-EDS while the SEM panel labels show 20.0 kV; no quantitative microanalysis is transferred. The source attributes a Zr signal to Pt-coating overlap rather than recovered zirconium. Section 3.2's iron-enhancement prose also conflicts with Figure 2b, so no numerical Fe benefit is adopted.
Context_only Source: an2021
This control-phase observation shares the same experiment already curated under waste printed circuit boards. It supplies a distinct mineral identity and preserves a precipitation alternative relevant to interpreting solution recovery, not an independent bioleaching replication, industrial process, economic advantage or environmental superiority claim.

Sources & References

  1. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC, The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026. Libethenite row, PDF page 125; Cu2(PO4)(OH), grandfathered G, historical year 1823.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-14)
  2. handbook_libethenite: Handbook of Mineralogy. Libethenite, version 1, 2001-2005. Formula, mineral identity and reference powder pattern.
    https://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/libethenite.pdf (accessed 2026-10-14)
  3. an2021: An, Jinsung (2021). Characteristics of Metals Leached from Waste Printed Circuit Boards Using Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. Minerals 11(2):224. DOI 10.3390/min11020224; complete eight-page original, Methods 2.1-2.2, Results 3.1-3.3 and Figures 1-4. Same study as the waste-printed-circuit-boards record.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/min11020224 (accessed 2026-10-14)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-14T20:49:09.811049+00:00 codex (GPT-6; codex) CREATE Added authority-grounded libethenite identity and uninoculated PCB-leach control-phase assignment, retaining the inoculated nondetection, incomplete causal controls, source contradictions and shared PCB experiment lineage.

Record source: data/records/libethenite.yaml