Lishiite, (Ca₂□)Sr₃(CO₃)₅, a new burbankite mineral from carbonatite-syenite complex in Shaxiongdong, Hubei, China

Abstract

Lishiite, (Ca₂□)Sr₃(CO₃)₅, is a new mineral species from Shaxiongdong, Hubei Province, China. It mainly occours as conchoidal crystals and with combination of hexagonal prism and pyramid and is associated with calcite, K-feldspar, albite, aegirine, apatite, and ancylite-(Ce)(?) and strontianite etc. Lishiite is brittle with conchiform fracture and has a Mohs hardness of approximately 4 and none cleavages were observed. The Vickers microhardness (VHN10) is 197.42 kg/mm² (range: 166.88 kg/mm² to 214.58 kg/mm²), and the calculated density of lishiite is 3.696 g/cm^3. Hand specimen of lishiite are yellow-brown. The empirical chemical formula of the lishiite is ^A(Ca_1.18Sr_0.25Na_0.19□_1.38)_Σ3.00 ^B[Sr_2.17(Ce_0.42La_0.24Nd_0.09Eu_0.01)_Σ0.76 Ba_0.07]_Σ3.00 (C_5.05O₁₅). As a member of the burbankite group, the general formula of lishiite follows the general formula A₃B₃(CO₃)₅, where A=Na, Ca, or and B=Sr, Ba, REE, or Ca. Its crystal structure is hexagonal (space group P6₃mc) with unit cell parameters a=10.4898(5) Å, c=6.4167(5) Å, and V=611.47(6) ų, characterized by layers of AO₈ and BO₁₀ polyhedra connected to [CO₃]³⁻ groups. The discovery of lishiite provides new insights into the evolutionary history of rare earth element (REE) carbonate deposit formation.

Keywords

Lishiite / (Ca₂□)Sr₃(CO₃)₅ / New mineral species / Burbankite group / Carbonatite-syenite complex / Mineral exploration engineering / Shaxiongdong

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Jie Dai and Gan-fu Shen conceived of the presented idea. Guo-wu Li did X-ray diffraction experiment and structural
refinement. Guan Wang, Jin-sha Xu, and Kun-yang Wang carried out the EPMA experiment. Jia-le He and Jing Ren did Laser Raman Spectrum experiment. Shang-ke Xie worked for field work. Tao Wang and Ting Li cut samples using FIBSEM. Jie Dai, Gan-fu Shen, Xiao-dong Pan and Guo-wu Li mainly contributed to the final manuscript. All authors discussed the results.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Chuan-long Mou for his help and the professional advice, to Qi Deng for his foundation supporting the field work. The authors sincerely appreciate the constructive suggestions from three anonymous peer reviewers and Editorial Board of China Geology. This research was jointly supported by the project China Geological Survey (DD202501026090) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2024YFC2910102).

Supplementary attachment

Supplementary attachment of the acceptance letter from Ferdinando Bosi, Chairman of the CNMNC (Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association) and the lishiite.cif document to this article can be found online at doi: 10.31035/cg2025163.

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