Phosphate mineral
Phosphate minerals are those minerals that contain the tetrahedrally coordinated phosphate (PO43−) anion along with the freely substituting arsenate (AsO43−) and vanadate (VO43−). Chlorine (Cl−), fluorine (F−), and hydroxide (OH−) anions that also fit into the crystal structure.
The phosphate class of minerals is a large and diverse group, however, only a few species are relatively common.
Phosphate minerals include:
Phosphate rock is a general term that refers to rock with high concentration of phosphate minerals, most commonly of the apatite group. It is the major resource mined to produce phosphate fertilizers for the agriculture sector. Phosphate is also used in animal feed supplements, food preservatives, anti-corrosion agents, cosmetics, fungicides, ceramics, water treatment and metallurgy.
The largest use of minerals mined for their phosphate content is the production of fertilizer.
Phosphate minerals are often used for control of rust and prevention of corrosion on ferrous materials applied with electrochemical conversion coatings.
IMA-CNMNC proposes a new hierarchical scheme (Mills et al., 2009). This list uses it to modify the Classification of Nickel–Strunz (mindat.org, 10 ed, pending publication).
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