Crystals of laueite, Mn2+Fe23+(PO4)2(OH)2·8H2O, from the Cornelia mine open cut, Hagendorf Süd, Bavaria, are zoned due to aluminium incorporation at the iron sites, with analysed Al2O3 contents varying up to 11 wt.%. Synchrotron X-ray data were collected on two crystals with different Al contents and the structures refined. The laueite structure contains two independent Fe3+-containing sites; M2 and M3, which alternate in 7 Å corner-connected octahedral chains. The coordination polyhedra are different for the two sites, M2O4(OH)2 and M3O2(OH)2(H2O)2 respectively. The structure refinements show that Al preferentially orders into site M3. Refined site occupancies for M2 and M3 for the two crystals are: for crystal L-1, M2 = 0.70(1) Fe + 0.30(1) Al, M3 = 0.54(1) Fe + 0.46(1) Al and for crystal L-2, M2 = 0.67(1) Fe + 0.33(1) Al, M3 = 0.48(1) Fe + 0.52(1) Al. For crystal L-2, the octahedral chains have dominant Fe in M2, alternating with dominant Al in M3 along the chain, an ordering phenomenon not previously reported for laueite-related minerals.

A new nomenclature scheme has been set up for the laueite supergroup of minerals, which have the general formula M12+M23+M33+(XO4)2(OH)2·8H2O, where M1 = Fe2+, Mg2+ or Mn2+; M2/M3 = Al3+ or Fe3+; and XO4 = PO4 or AsO4. The laueite supergroup is divided into the laueite group (XO4 = PO4) and the maghrebite group (XO4 = AsO4). These groups are then subdivided into subgroups on the basis of the dominant atoms, Al3+ or Fe3+, in octahedral sites M2/M3. The new nomenclature has been approved by the International Mineralogical Association Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification, proposal 14-F.