section_path: Classification/Non-silicates/Halides
section_name: Halides
paragraph_text: Halides
  
  The halide minerals are compounds in which a halogen (fluorine, chlorine, iodine, or bromine) is the main anion. These minerals tend to be soft, weak, brittle, and water-soluble. Common examples of halides include halite (NaCl, table salt), sylvite (KCl), and fluorite (CaF). Halite and sylvite commonly form as evaporites, and can be dominant minerals in chemical sedimentary rocks. Cryolite, Na AlF, is a key mineral in the extraction of aluminium from bauxites; however, as the only significant occurrence at Ivittuut, Greenland, in a granitic pegmatite, was depleted, synthetic cryolite can be made from fluorite.