Abstract:Lithium is a critical strategic energy metal，and lithium deposits mainly include five types：brine type，pegmatite type，granite type，cryptoexplosive breccia type and clay type. For the latter four solid mineral types of deposits，their ore genetic properties are significantly different due to different mineralization conditions and ore forming processes. Pegmatite type lithium deposits feature high grade of Li2O，and the lithium minerals mainly are spodumene，petalite，montebrasite and lepidolite. Granite type lithium deposits generally have low grade of Li2O and large deposit scale，and the lithium minerals mainly include trilithionite，zinnwaldite，and lepidolite. The Li2O grade of the cryptoexplosive breccia type lithium deposits is relatively high，and the lithium bearing mineral in such deposits is mainly lepidolite. In the clay type lithium deposits，lithium usually forms independent lithium minerals such as cookeite and jadarite，lithium might occur in adsorption and isomorphism states in clay minerals such as kaolintie，illite，montmorillonite and diaspore as well. The recovery and utilization of lithium in the lithium ores is closely related to the occurrence state of lithium. Granite type and clay type lithium deposits are widely distributed in China. With the development of lithium extraction techniques，these two types of lithium resources have promising prospects for further development and utilization.