Halide mineral

[1] Examples include the following:[2][3] Many of these minerals are water-soluble and are often found in arid areas in crusts and other deposits as are various borates, nitrates, iodates, bromates and the like.

As a collective whole, simple halide minerals (containing fluorine through iodine, alkali metals, alkaline Earth metals, in addition to other metals/cations) occur abundantly at the surface of the Earth in a variety of geologic settings.

[6] Two commercially important halide minerals are halite and fluorite.

Fluorite is a major source of hydrogen fluoride, complementing the supply obtained as a byproduct of the production of fertilizer.

Not only do those minerals occur in subsurface geologic deposits, they also form crusts on the Earth's surface due to the low rainfall (the Atacama is the world's driest desert as well as one of the oldest at 25 million years of age).