It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish, or lilac kunzite (see below), yellowish-green or emerald-green hiddenite, prismatic crystals, often of great size.

The name is derived from the Greek spodumenos (σποδούμενος), meaning "burnt to ashes", owing to the opaque ash-grey appearance of material refined for use in industry.

Source localities include the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Madagascar (see mining), Pakistan, Québec in Canada, and North Carolina and California in the U.S.

Spodumene is an important source of lithium, for use in ceramics, mobile phones and batteries (including for automotive applications), medicine, Pyroceram, and as a fluxing agent.

[13][14] World production of lithium via spodumene was around 80,000 metric tonnes per annum in 2018, primarily from the Greenbushes pegmatite of Western Australia and from some Chinese and Chilean sources.

The Talison Minerals mine in Greenbushes, Western Australia (involving Tianqi Lithium, Albemarle Corporation, and Global Advanced Metals), is reported to be the world's second-largest and to have the highest grade of ore at 2.4% Li2O (2012 figures).

These refining methods result in significant quantities of caustic waste effluent and tailings, which are usually either highly acidic or alkali.

Some offer the use of noncaustic reagents and result in reduced waste streams, potentially allowing the use of a closed-loop refining process.

[23] Kunzite was discovered in 1902, and was named after George Frederick Kunz, Tiffany & Co's chief jeweler at the time, and a noted mineralogist.