Phosphate minerals

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 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.

Examples include:
 * triphylite Li(Fe,Mn)PO4
 * monazite (Ce,La,Y,Th)PO4
 * Apatite group Ca5(PO4)3(F,Cl,OH)
 * hydroxylapatite Ca5(PO4)3OH
 * fluorapatite Ca5(PO4)3F
 * chlorapatite Ca5(PO4)3Cl
 * pyromorphite Pb5(PO4)3Cl
 * vanadinite Pb5(VO4)3Cl
 * erythrite Co3(AsO4)2&middot;8H2O
 * amblygonite LiAlPO4F
 * lazulite (Mg,Fe)Al2(PO4)2(OH)2
 * wavellite Al3(PO4)2(OH)3&middot;5H2O
 * turquoise CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8&middot;5H2O
 * autunite Ca(UO2)2(PO4)2&middot;10-12H2O
 * carnotite K2(UO2)2(VO4)2&middot;3H2O
 * phosphophyllite Zn2(Fe,Mn)(PO4)2•4H2O

Applications
Phosphate minerals are often used for control of rust and prevention of corrosion on ferrous materials, applied with electrochemical conversion coatings.