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Spodumene mineral

Spodumene is the LiAlSi2O6 mineral species in the September 2026 IMA list. Status A denotes approval; the entry 1962 s.p. denotes a special-procedure action, not a sequential approval identifier or the mineral's original discovery year. This mineral is distinct from elemental lithium and a mixed spodumene-bearing ore. The study below, already cited by cmmmech:lithium, tests one such feed and reports no material lithium-leaching enhancement under its conditions. No lithium commodity designation is inherited.

Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)

No material lithium-leaching enhancement from the tested spodumene-bearing feed

bioleaching Microbial

Associated Organisms: Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (NCBITaxon:920)

Living culture reported as Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans did not materially improve the rate or extent of lithium release from a spodumene-bearing sample relative to uninoculated acidic medium in the reported laboratory comparison. This is a condition-specific unsuccessful enhancement test, not evidence that every microbial process on spodumene is ineffective. More solution iron in the inoculated arm does not demonstrate greater lithium extraction, and no purified lithium product was recovered.

Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
Kirk et al. used Bikita, Zimbabwe material containing alpha-spodumene and quartz by XRD. The ore-derived in-lab culture was reported without a strain accession; the species identifier normalizes the name, not independently authenticating the culture. Stock cultures contained ferrous sulfate, and the paper acknowledges growth-medium iron carryover. Powdered feed was prepared by grinding to approximately 0.5 micrometre. Methods specify 2 g powder in 190 mL basal medium plus 10 mL inoculum, but call this 2% w/v; the amounts instead imply 1% w/v. Biotic treatments were triplicate, static at 23 degrees C for 30 days, initially pH 1.8, with uninoculated basal-medium and sulfuric-acid-only comparisons. Spodumene pH reportedly remained at 1.8 without later acid additions. ICP-OES measured the centrifuged supernatant, not an isolated product. Figure captions describe 2500 microlitres of sulfuric acid for chemical leaching, while Methods specify 0.29 mL of 5.5 M acid for initial 200 mL treatments; the inconsistency prevents assuming an unambiguous acid-matched comparison.
Curated Evidence Points:
Sections 2.1-2.3, 3.1 and 3.3 and Figure 4 refute a material microbial enhancement of lithium release for this specific feed and protocol. The inoculated and uninoculated lithium curves were similar, despite larger solution-iron values in the inoculated arm. Section 2.5 states that post-leach spodumene residues were not examined by XRD; no measured extent of spodumene-phase destruction is claimed. This result does not refute distinct fungal or other microbial treatments.
The version 1 Mendeley deposit was inspected separately from the article. The standalone spodumene and lepidolite bioleaching workbooks have identical thirty Li replicate values at Sheet1!C3:E12. Their headers use mg/kg while the paper reports mg/L, and they lack a loading or acid-dose ledger. These provenance and unit gaps prevent independent quantitative confirmation, normalized yield calculation or treating the two workbook blocks as independent observations. No deposited values are silently corrected or adopted here.

Sources & References

  1. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC. The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026. PDF page 203, Spodumene row; page 1, column definitions; page 2, distribution terms.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-11)
  2. kirk2024: Kirk et al. (2024). Bioleaching of lithium from jadarite, spodumene, and lepidolite using Acidiothiobacillus ferrooxidans. Frontiers in Microbiology 15:1467408. The genus spelling is retained from the published title.
    https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1467408 (accessed 2026-10-11)
  3. kirk2024_data_v1: Kirk et al. (2024). Bioleaching of lithium from jadarite, spodumene and lepidolite using Acidiothiobacillus ferrooxidans. Mendeley Data, version 1, published 14 November 2024; CC BY 4.0. Published genus spelling retained.
    https://doi.org/10.17632/djkf7tkm8d.1 (accessed 2026-10-11)
  4. ncbi_ferrooxidans: NCBI Taxonomy 920 - Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (species)
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=920&mode=info (accessed 2026-10-11)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-11T09:02:12.208012+00:00 codex (GPT-6; codex) CREATE Created IMA-grounded spodumene identity with a condition-specific null microbial enhancement result and source-data limits.

Record source: data/records/spodumene.yaml