Quick Copy Paste from another borrowed post, hope it helps. It...

Quick Copy Paste from another borrowed post, hope it helps. It was related to lpd-lip.
"Associated minerals include quartz, feldspar, spodumene, amblygonite, tourmaline, columbite, cassiterite, topaz and beryl. Lepidolite can contain up to 7.7% Li 20. The lepidolite in pegmatite bodies can be separated from the gangue minerals by flotation, or classification. [0064] It is envisaged that the processes of the present invention are applicable to any lithium bearing mica ores, such as lepidolite, but also including zinnwaldite. Zinnwaldite is a lithium containing silicate mineral in the mica group, generally light brown, grey or white in colour, and having the chemical formula KLiFeAI(AISi,)O(OH,F) 2. "

So the patent is on Lepidolite, Zinnwaldite and other close MICA ores, but spodumene is clearly an associated mineral but a NOT a mica ore. It looks to me like LIT found a flaw in the patent and have exploited it.

I was always wondering why they were after spodumene ore when they originally had a patent for lepidolite, but seem to have dropped the lepidolite.