Lithium Package

Lithium ore minerals — spodumene, petalite, lepidolite — are silicates, so the digestion has to break silicate lattices rather than just leach sulphides. This package uses a full four-acid attack including hydrofluoric acid on a 1 g charge, larger than a standard ICP split, to keep the subsample representative of coarse-grained pegmatite material.

The solution is read by ICP-OES for lithium together with the elements that vector lithium–cesium–tantalum pegmatite systems: niobium, tantalum, and tin. It runs as a standalone package or alongside the ICP-34 scan when broader lithogeochemistry is wanted.