Zabuyelite is the natural mineral form of lithium carbonate

Lithium carbonate

Lithium carbonate is a chemical compound of lithium, carbon, and oxygen with the formula Li2CO3. This colorless salt is widely used in the processing of metal oxides and has received attention for its use in psychiatry. It is found in nature as the rare mineral zabuyelite.-Properties:Like almost...

, with a formula

Chemical formula

A chemical formula or molecular formula is a way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound....

 Li

Lithium

Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...

₂C

Carbon

Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...

O

Oxygen

Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

₃. It was discovered in 1987 at Lake Zabuye

Lake Zabuye

Lake Zabuye is a landlocked salt lake located at an elevation of in the Xigazê Prefecture of Tibet Autonomous Region, from Lhasa. The lake gives its name to the mineral zabuyelite , which was discovered here in 1987 and has been mined since 2004–2005...

, Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

, after which it is named. It forms colorless vitreous monoclinic crystals.

It occurs as inclusions within halite

Halite

Halite , commonly known as rock salt, is the mineral form of sodium chloride . Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow or gray depending on the amount and type of impurities...

 in lithium rich evaporite

Evaporite

Evaporite is a name for a water-soluble mineral sediment that result from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution. There are two types of evaporate deposits, marine which can also be described as ocean deposits, and non-marine which are found in standing bodies of...

s and as solid phase in fluid inclusions

Fluid inclusions

thumb|250px|Trapped in a time capsule the same size as the diameter of a human hair, the ore-forming liquid in this inclusion was so hot and contained so much dissolved solids that when it cooled, crystals of halite, sylvite, gypsum, and hematite formed. As the samples cooled, the fluid shrank more...

 in the mineral spodumene

Spodumene

Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium inosilicate, LiAl2, and is a source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish, or lilac kunzite , yellowish-green or emerald-green hiddenite, prismatic crystals, often of great size...

. Associated minerals include halite, gaylussite

Gaylussite

Gaylussite is a carbonate mineral, a hydrated sodium calcium carbonate, formula Na2Ca2·5H2O. It occurs as translucent, vitreous white to grey to yellow monoclinic prismatic crystals. It is an unstable mineral which dehydrates in dry air and decomposes in water.It is formed as an evaporite from...

 and northupite

Northupite

Northupite is an uncommon evaporite mineral, with the chemical formula Na3Mg2Cl. It was discovered in 1895 at Searles Lake, San Bernardino County, California by C. H. Northup , a grocer from San Jose, California, for whom Northupite is named....

 in the Tibet locality.

In addition to the Tibetan salt lake it has been reported from Bikita

Bikita

Bikita is a district in the Masvingo Province of Zimbabwe. It is located about 80 km east of Masvingo. Its name probably is derived from the Shona word Dikita which means antbear, which describes the shape of a nearby hill. The district was previously known as Denga which means up in the clouds and...

 and Kamativi

Kamativi

Kamativi is a small mining town in Matabeleland North province, Zimbabwe. Kamativi is also the name of a tin mine located at the town. The town exists because of the mine....

in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

, from Kings Mountain

Kings Mountain, North Carolina

Kings Mountain is a small suburban city of Gastonia and Charlotte in Cleveland and Gaston counties, North Carolina, United States. The population was 9,693 at the 2000 census....

, Cleveland County, North Carolina

Cleveland County, North Carolina

-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 98,078 people, 37,046 households, and 27,006 families residing in the county. The population density was 207 people per square mile . There were 40,317 housing units at an average density of 87 per square mile...

, USA and the Tanco pegmatite

Pegmatite

A pegmatite is a very crystalline, intrusive igneous rock composed of interlocking crystals usually larger than 2.5 cm in size; such rocks are referred to as pegmatitic....

, Bernic Lake

Bernic Lake

Bernic Lake is a lake in the province of Manitoba, Canada.The Tanco mine is located on the northwestern shore of the river. The mine is an active producer of caesium, tantalum and spodumene from a large pegmatite ore body....

, Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

, Canada.