Igneous vs Sedimentary

Known World Phosphate Deposits

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the The United Nations

Only 4% of world phosphate deposits are of igneous rock type of which 50% are located in Russia.
First Phosphate properties consist of Igneous Massif-Type Anorthosite which represent 1% of the world’s phosphate deposits.
Igneous anorthosite rock yields the highest purity phosphate devoid of high concentrations of deleterious heavy metals.
Igneous Anorthosite based phosphate has the potential to yield the highest purity, ESG-driven, carbon-neutral phosphate for the global LFP battery industry.

Deposit Type	Igneous Carbonatite	Igneous Massif-Type Anorthosite	Sedimentary
Host Rock	Carbonatite	Massif-Type Anorthosite	Upwelling-Related Sedimentary Rocks
Distribution	4% of global deposits	1% of global deposits	95% of global deposits
Shape Of Ore Bodies	Veins and Lenses	Sheets and Lenses	Bedded (stratiform)
Rare of Earth Elements	High	Low	Variable
Deleterious Trace Elements	Low	Low	High
Organic Matter	None	None	High
Phosphate Mineralogy	Apatite	Apatite	Carbonate Fluorapatite
Associated Minerals	Calcite, Dolomite, Magnetite	Pyroxene, Plagioclase, Ilmenite, Magnetite	Quartz, Clay Minerals, Calcite, Dolomite
P₂O₅ Content	~5 to 15 wt%	~5 to 15 wt%	~8 to 35 wt%
Source	Mantle > 50 km depth)	Mantle/Crust (~ 30 to 50 km depth)	Upwelling-related organic matter
Mineralization Processes	High temperature crystallization in magma	High temperature crystallization and gravitational settling in magma	Phosphate precipitation in accumulating sediment

Source: Dr. Sandeep Banerjee, Postdoctoral Fellow/ Researcher Queen's University