Spodumene Gemstone: Properties, Meanings, Value & ...

Spodumene (spod-you-meen) is a mineral family and a specific gem within that family. This stone is a popular collector&#;s mineral. It has two popular gemstone varieties: hiddenite and kunzite. 

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So, is spodumene the same as kunzite? All kunzite is spodumene, but not all spodumene is kunzite. That&#;s because spodumene stones come in numerous other colors!

In terms of rarity, spodumene minerals are widespread but gem-quality stones are somewhat rare. The gems have certainly made an impact, though &#; the town of hiddenite&#;s first discovery renamed their town Hiddenite after the stone!

There&#;s more to spodumene than kunzite and hiddenite, however. Today, we&#;ll fill you in on all the spodumene properties, gemstone varieties, prices, and more!

About Spodumene Stone

Spodumene is a semi-precious gemstone known for its beautiful transparent varieties. Besides its use for gems, what is spodumene used for? It&#;s also an essential source of lithium &#; about half of all lithium currently comes from spodumene stones!

Some spodumene uses stretch across various industries, like ceramics, medicine, and batteries, to name a few. Almost every use ties to lithium, which is even becoming crucial for reducing greenhouse gasses!

Back to the gemstones, kunzite spodumene is an alternate February birthstone or September birthstone (particularly for Americans, according to Tiffany gemologist George Kunz). Kunzite is also a zodiac stone for Taurus, Leo, and Scorpio, while yellow spodumene (triphane) is a zodiac stone for Cancer.  

Spodumene Specifications & Characteristics

Spodumene is a lithium aluminum silicate mineral (LiAlSi2O6) in the pyroxene group. It&#;s one of the few lithium-bearing minerals in the world.

While spodumene crystals can be impressively large, their perfect cleavage and parting qualities make them somewhat delicate. 

One very rare optical phenomenon seen in spodumene is tenebrescence: a slow, reversible color shift under different UV lighting (the sun in particular). Unlike color-changing gems, tenebrescent gems gradually shift colors when coming in and out of the different lights.

Check out spodumene&#;s crystal properties listed below:

• Mohs hardness: 6.5-7

• Color: Colorless, gray, white, pink, purple, yellow, green, orange, blue

• Crystal structure: Monoclinic

• Luster: Vitreous (glass-like); Often pearly on cleavages

• Transparency: Transparent to translucent; Some mineral specimens (not used for gems) are opaque

• Refractive index: 1.65-1.68

• Density: 3.03-3.23

• Cleavage: Perfect, 2 directions, prismatic

• Fracture: Uneven to splintery

• Streak: White

• Luminescence: Fluorescence - Orange, yellow, pink, or orange-red in SW-UV & LW-UV (triphane & kunzite); X-ray - Orange-yellow (triphane), orange (kunzite & hiddenite); Orange phosphorescence (kunzite & hiddenite)

• Pleochroism: Present; Strong; Kunzite - colorless to violet or pink; Green stones - Colorless, green, or teal to light green; Hiddenite - green to teal

• Optical effects: Rarely chatoyancy; Tenebrescence

Types of Spodumene

You already know what stones are spodumene; now let&#;s go deeper into each variety, starting with the most widely known: kunzite!

Kunzite

Kunzite is a light-colored pink to purple variety colored by manganese impurities. It shows strong pleochroism, so you&#;ll see colorless and pink or violet hues from different viewing directions.

Because deeper hues are rarer, they carry greater value. The most valuable stones are deep magenta, followed by saturated violet stones. Among the varieties listed, kunzite has the largest crystals (up to 10 inches).

Hiddenite

Hiddenite is a translucent, emerald-green variety nicknamed the &#;Carolina Emerald'' for its discovery in North Carolina, USA, in . Plus, some emerald crystals in America are found inside hiddenite! 

The stone is colored by chromium impurities. Not all green spodumene is hiddenite, only those colored by chromium, even if both come from the same mine.

This stone is the rarest spodumene variety. Its green shades range but are generally darker than other spodumenes. Hiddenite gems are valuable but small, with most under 2 carats.

Triphane

Triphane is a modern name for transparent, colorless to yellow spodumene. The term is Ancient Greek for &#;appearing three-fold,&#; after the stone's strong trichroism. 

French mineralogist Rene Haüy coined the name in , and it became a synonym for spodumene during the s-s. In the late s, Americans in particular started using &#;triphane&#; as a variety name, though some gemologists only use the term &#;yellow spodumene.&#; Triphane crystals are always small, between 1-2 inches.

Next, what is the meaning of spodumene?

Spodumene Meaning & History

Spodumene stones represent confidence, love, and unity. They also symbolize restoration, new perspectives, and protection. 

The word &#;spodumene&#; comes from the Greek spodumenos, meaning &#;burnt to ash&#; after the original opaque, ashy gray specimens now exclusive to industrial use.

Brazilian naturalist José Bonifácio de Andrada first discovered spodumene in Stockholm County, Sweden, in . Along with scapolite and cryolite, Andrada also discovered petalite, which led to lithium&#;s first discovery. 

Spodumene gems weren&#;t highly regarded until the American discoveries of hiddenite in and kunzite in . It wasn&#;t until the s when miners found more gem-quality spodumene that the stone gained wider recognition as a gem outside of its varieties. 

With gemological fame comes greater use in healing circles, so what is spodumene used for in crystal healing?

Spodumene Healing Properties

While not all spodumenes have the quality to be gemstones, every spodumene crystal can be a healing stone! Their distinct colors offer different benefits, too. 

Colorless spodumene joins other white gemstones in providing spiritual wisdom and cleansing benefits. Kunzite is a pink gem, meaning its benefits include heart healing, self-love, and romance. If you&#;re after heart chakra healing, both kunzite and green gemstones like hiddenite are heart chakra stones!

Let&#;s look closer at the physical and emotional spodumene crystal benefits. 

Physical Healing

Most physical benefits tie to yellow spodumene (triphane) specifically. This stone is said to clear your space from radiation, shielding you from EMF emissions from tech like your computer. 

Other purported triphane benefits include:

• Helping the body rebuild cells

• Balancing magnesium and calcium in the body

• Enhancing medical treatments for STDs

• Boosting fertility

Emotional Healing

If you have a domineering force you feel helpless against, be it external or internal, spodumene can help. Crystal healers recommend the gem for protection against manipulative people and addictions that try to steal your personal power. 

Another possible benefit of spodumene is helping you accept and release painful past memories or worries. From there, the stone can renew your sense of optimism and purpose. 

Spodumene Gemstone Properties

A gemstone&#;s objective value comes down to its particular gemstone properties. Like most gems, spodumene&#;s value factors come down to standard categories: color, cut, clarity, and treatments. Although, the significance of each category may differ between spodumene varieties. 

Color

Most spodumene gems have pale coloring. Pale-colored spodumene can display the gem&#;s moderate level of dispersion (colorful sparkle) better than deeper shades. Many crystals have stronger and lighter hues on different sides.  

Green spodumene gems (like hiddenite) show the widest range of shades, from pale mint to deep emerald or hunter green. Blue-green or light blue gems, along with bi-colored or multicolored spodumene, are the rarest.

Besides kunzite and hiddenite, most spodumene gems get their color from iron impurities. 

Cut

Spodumene&#;s cleavage makes the stone one of the hardest gems to cut. However, in the hands of skilled lapidarists, spodumene gems can display extraordinary color, sparkle, and pleochroism. 

Almost all gem-quality spodumene rough is faceted. Step cuts like baguette or emerald are typical for kunzite, while brilliant cuts are typical for other faceted spodumenes &#; these include round, cushion, trillion, or oval shapes.

On rare occasions, you may see spodumene cabochons (more commonly with kunzite) or ornamental carvings. 

Clarity

Transparent spodumene has a Type I (eye-clean) colored gemstone clarity grade, meaning it&#;s almost always found without eye-visible inclusions. Even huge crystals are usually inclusion-free!

Under 10x magnification, you may see tiny inclusions. Growth tubes are most common, along with cracks from healing or liquid inclusions. The rare chatoyant (cat&#;s eye) spodumene gems have thin, parallel inclusions of either crystals or growth tubes.

Treatments

Spodumene, outside of its varieties, doesn&#;t usually undergo treatments, except for the occasional heating to enhance color. 

Kunzite, however, is regularly treated with undetectable irradiation, heat, or both. Jewelers use this treatment to intensify kunzite&#;s color or remove undesirable undertones. Often, irradiation turns colorless spodumene into pink kunzite or pink kunzite into green spodumene. 

Spodumene Formation & Sources

You&#;ll mostly find spodumene minerals in lithium-rich pegmatites. These igneous pegmatite rocks started as hot magma rising toward Earth&#;s surface. The magma slowly cools, but the cooling process can create gas bubbles, cracks, and pockets.

Mineral-rich water seeps into those open spaces. The water evaporates over time and the minerals left behind crystallize. Spodumene forms when the water has silica, lithium, aluminum, and sodium. If manganese or chromium is present as well, it becomes kunzite or hiddenite, respectively. 

Next, where is spodumene found in the world?

Mining Locations

Spodumene deposits exist all around the world, and some locales produce specific spodumene gems:

• Afghanistan (All spodumene colors; Gem-quality rough; Best kunzite, vibrant yellow spodumene)

• Australia

• Austria 

• Brazil (Huge kunzite crystals; Hiddenite, non-hiddenite green spodumene, yellow spodumene) 

• Canada

• Democratic Republic of Congo

• India 

  If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Dolomite Powder.

• Madagascar (Yellow spodumene, hiddenite, kunzite)

• Mexico (Kunzite)

• Myanmar (Hiddenite & gem-quality rough)

• Pakistan (Kunzite)

• Russia (Kunzite)

• USA (California - Hiddenite, high-quality kunzite, yellow-green spodumene; North Carolina - Best hiddenite; South Dakota - huge grayish-white crystals; Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts)

Chances are, you&#;re curious about the cost. So, what is spodumene worth?

Spodumene Price & Value

Most spodumene gemstones are relatively affordable! The most valuable spodumene is hiddenite, which costs $100 per carat on average for faceted gems. Kunzite is next, though its prices have a broader range. 

Generally, pink kunzite gemstones are $5-$10 per carat for paler shades and $15-$30 for intense shades. Pricier options are lilac to deep lavender at $50-$70 per carat, though kunzites above 10 carats can be $150 per carat or higher.  

Below, we&#;ll break down each faceted spodumene gemstone price range (at wholesale) by color, excluding hiddenite and kunzite: 

• Colorless: $5-$20 per carat

• Yellow: $10-$50 per carat

• Blue: $2-$10 per carat

• Light Green: $3-$15 per carat

• Deep Green: $6-$20 per carat

Lastly, the spodumene price per carat for rough specimens at wholesale is $0.01-$5 per carat. 

Spodumene Care and Maintenance

Spodumene is relatively hard, but its cleavage and parting planes mean it can break easily. Therefore, caring for the gem carefully is key. 

We recommend spodumene jewelry like pendants or earrings over rings and bracelets. Adding protective settings can keep the gem safer. Plus, earrings and pendants catch the light best &#; perfect for showing off that sparkle!

Unfortunately, most spodumene stones will fade in color from prolonged exposure to sunlight or heat. It&#;s best to keep them for evening wear only and store them in cool, dark places. 

You can clean spodumene by mixing warm water with mild soap, dipping a soft toothbrush in the mixture, and carefully scrubbing the stone. Rinse the stone after and dry it with a microfiber cloth or let it air-dry. 

Glisten and Gleam in Spodumene!

Scientists know spodumene for its abundance of lithium, but jewelry and crystal lovers love this gem for its abundance of beauty and spiritual benefits. Spodumene&#;s impressive colors and shimmering qualities earn it a place on display, be it in a gem and mineral collection or around your neck for an elegant evening!

Do you have a favorite spodumene color already? Want to explore the options? Check out our array of spodumene gemstones to find the perfect one for you!

Or why I learned to stop worrying and buy spodumene projects.

I'm not an expert in this area. But this blog is free, so you get to read things as I'm figuring them out.

How Markets Work

In free markets the price is set by the marginal producer matched with the marginal buyer.

In the case of lithium if there are too many lithium miners and not enough demand for batteries then the higher cost miners will lose money.  They will eventually get tired of losing money, or run out of money, and will stop mining for a loss. Thus when prices drop it's the miners at the higher side of the cost curve that reduce production.  Balance is restored and prices can rise.

We haven't cared about production costs lately in lithium because there was more demand than supply and the price was way above the entire cost curve.  All miners made money. The problem (or solution depending on your point of view) with all miners making money is that more mines keep getting opened.

There are of course delays in opening new mines.  You have to go find new deposits, permit them, raise capital to fund them, etc. But we all know there is enough lithium for all the batteries we need.  The question is how much lithium is available to be mined economically at each price level? If the price is $100,000/tLCE we'll just keep opening new mines forever.  If the price is $3,000/tLCE we'll keep closing mines until basically Greenbushes and the Atacama are left.

What we want to do is identify projects that will be in the lower half of the cost curve so they can make profits through cycle.

Let's look at some project characteristics that affect where things settle in the cost curve.

Red Flags (No Go)

Lepidolite

Confession time. I used to own shares in Lepidico, the only non-China publicly traded Lepidolite project company. It was a mistake. Their current study shows an ASIC of $8,730/tLCE.  But that's on an unproven technology and on a by-product basis, it's worse on a co-product basis. If you add in some inflation and the fact that studies seem to always come in lower than actual production numbers their costs are going to be high.

In China 44% of their domestic lithium is from Lepidolite, with an average concentrate grade of less than 2% Li2O.

If you look at Lepidico their Lepidolite resource is 11.9Mt @ 0.45% Li20. That's a half or a third as much lithium per ton of ore as a typical spodumene resource.

Cornish Lithium is 51.7Mt @ 0.24% Li2O. That is just abysmal.

Nobody really knows the numbers in China, but when prices dropped to $45,000/tLCE a lot of Chinese lepidolite processors started losing money and shutting down.

Underground

If you look at gold/silver/lead/zinc/copper mining the cutoff grade underground is 10x the cutoff grade of open pit. There are no current underground spodumene mines in the world, which is saying something. The costs of underground mining are just too high.

Allkem Mt Cattlin is looking to go underground as their open pit strip ratio keeps increasing. Other people are talking about it. I'm just not convinced it will be anything other than the upper end of the cost curve.

DLE with <200mg/L

I'm just going to say it, Alberta brines are not going to work economically. E3 has 75mg/L approximately. I've looked at their demo plant results and it's not good enough. Almost 75% impurities (Na+K+Ca+Mg+Mn+Sr+B) vs Li in the lithium stream and 722mg/L in that stream being below what most brine projects pump out of the ground to begin with. Rough going.

Salton sea brines similarly look rough, though there at least some argument can be made that geothermal heat can produce electricity as a byproduct, improving economics.

Direct Ship Ore (DSO)

In a high commodity price environment you might start direct shipping ore to move into production faster, but if your plan isn't to build a concentrator on-site right away your project is going to be the first to shut down in any commodity price dips.

Yellow Flags

Floatation (Small Spodumene Crystal Size)

Does your project have a lot of the spodumene in small crystals?  You'll have to use floatation to recover that lithium. Floatation of spodumene is a huge pain to get right and many projects have way underperformed while starting up, sometimes for years.

Expect high costs, long and expensive ramp up times, and generally pain.

Ultimately Dense Media Separation (DMS) is cheaper both in capital expenditure (Capex) and operating expenditure (Opex). Floatation is expensive and tricky.

Typical DMS grind sizes are 5-9mm as the upper accepted size and 0.5-1.0mm as the lower accepted size. If you do a course grind you'll get less fines under your low end.  If the crystal size is large enough and other factors line up you'll end up with a lot of crystals inbetween the acceptable sizes and few small crystals attached to impurities or smaller bits from the grinding process that are too small.

Ultimately even those with good DMS recoveries may want to add a floatation circuit. For example Sigma's 1.3% Li2O fine tailings are being shipped and sold to someone who is likely doing flotation on them.  In the long run it makes more economic sense to save shipping costs and do that flotation locally. Even then, having better DMS recoveries mean lower processing costs on what's recovered there and a smaller amount of volume going through the flotation circuit.

Sedimentary (Clays)

Thacker pass is the only sedimentary (Clay) project under construction that I can name. Sorry Ganfeng Sonora, Mexico's AMLO governmentis stealing your project.

Thacker pass operating costs for the first 25 years in their feasability study average $6,743/tLCE.  AISC will obviously be higher as processing is capital intensive. It will be interesting to see where this settles out. Government incentives (IRA etc) may also let Thacker pass have cheaper cost of capital and sell their product at higher than global average prices.

It's a guessing game at this point, but I think the project will come in with costs above Tier 1/2 spodumene, above Tier 1/2 evaporation brine, below Lepidolite, and below DLE brine.

DLE

There are two operating projects that people point to when thinking about currently operating Direct Lithium Extration, neither is truly DLE.  That leaves 0 currently producing DLE projects worldwide.

I'm generally optimistic on the Smackover brines that Standard Lithium is developing in partnership with Koch & LAXNESS.  Exxon is also making an entry into the region.

However, the technology is notoriously tricky. Standard build a large scale demonstration plant for their in-house developed technology before abandoning that technology.  They are now going forward with a Koch developed process.

People are looking at DLE for projects around the world.  Sometimes it's to fix impurities, sometimes it's because there is too much rain for evaporation ponds. DLE is not a magic wand that you waive to turn a bad project into a good project.  The vast majority of DLE projects I've seen just won't work and are likely to never enter production.

<100Mt Spodumene Resource

You want to have future expansion possibilities, economics of scale, potential for vertical integration, long mine life.  If you are under 100Mt of ore you are a marginal producer.  Maybe it works anyway if there are other lithium resources in the district to combine with, easy access to ports, cheap power, low strip costs, etc. But if you aren't at 100Mt you need a lot of other favorable factors.

<1.0% Li2O Ore Grade

Is it an oversimplification to say grade = margin?  Yes.  Is it directionaly true, yes.

Floatation

Green Flags

High DMS Recoveries (Large Spodumene Crystal Size)

OK, there are other factors than just crystal size in DMS recoveries. But DMS is fast and cheap, so if you can get most of your lithium with this method your project is going to be much cheaper.

Sigma is a good example of this strategy. They use a DMS circuit and no floatation to produce a 5.5% Li2O spodumene concentrate. They then use their coarse tailings as road base and sell their 1.3% Li2O fine tailings (filter pressed, aka dry stacked) to either battery or ceramics markets. They get 61.5% recovery from DMS alone, and plan to up that to 65% recovery. They are planning to add a magnetic separator as well.

Open Pit Spodumene

Open pit mining costs are lower than underground. Spodumene is superior to petalite or lepidolite.

>100Mt Spodumene Ore

There are massive economies of scale in mining, and having more years of mine life to absorb the capital investment also really matters to IRR.

>1.1% Li2O Ore Grade

You want to be Tier 1/2, then you gotta have the grade to drive the margins.

Wide Vein Width

Wide vein width lowers strip ratios, lowers dilution, and generally makes life easier.

Anything 3m or wider can be mined without too much dilution, but the vein width will limit how deep you can mine before the strip ratio gets excessive. Vein orientation matters too.

Greenbushes has a strike length of 3km and a vein width of ~300m.  Patriot Battery Metals CV5 pegmatite pinches and swells between 8m and 130m true width. Sigma thicknesses range from a few meters to 40m with an average of 12-13m. Li-Ft has a lot of double digit m widths (true width tbd).

Vertical Integration

If a project or district is large enough a company can move up the value chain.  Instead of producing a spondume concentrate they might produce Lithium sulphate monohydrate (Li2SO4· H2O) that is easier to transport and store than lithium hydroxide LiOH, but can be used to make lithium hydroxide in the form of Li2SO4 + 2 NaOH &#; Na2SO4 + 2 LiOH.

Companies could go further and produce lithium hydroxide directly, but that makes more sense if they are near a lithium battery factory that would consume the hydroxide.

Why vertical integration makes sense is that you save on shipping costs for your 6% Li2O spodumene concentrate.

Disclosure

As of the time of this writing...

I am long Trident Royalties $TRR.L, who have a royalty on Thacker Pass.

I am long Li-FT $LIFT.V who are drilling out and exploring spodumene in Canada.

I am long Sigma Lithium $SGML who have recently started production and are looking to sell themselves.

I am long Comet Lithium $CLIC.V who are pre-discovery but recently added some notworthy team members.

I am looking for other good lithium investments.