The mineral sulphohalite – Na 6 (SO 4 ) 2 FCl is a rare sodium halogen sulphate and occurs associated with evaporitic deposits. Sulphohalite formation is important in saline evaporites and in pipe scales. Sulphohalite is an anhydrous sulphate–halide with an apparent variable anion ratio of formula Na 6 (SO 4 ) 2 FCl. Such a formula with oxyanions lends itself to vibrational spectroscopy. The Raman band at 1003cm −1 is assigned to the (SO 4 ) 2− ν 1 symmetric stretching mode. Shoulders to this band are found at 997 and 1010cm −1 . The low intensity Raman bands at 1128, 1120 and even 1132cm −1 are attributed to the (SO 4 ) 2− ν 3 antisymmetric stretching vibrations. Two symmetric sulphate stretching modes are observed indicating at least at the molecular level the non-equivalence of the sulphate ions in the sulphohalite structure. The Raman bands at 635 and 624cm −1 are assigned to the ν 4 SO 4 2− bending modes. The ν 2 (SO 4 ) 2− bending modes are observed at 460 and 494cm −1 . The observation of multiple bands supports the concept of a reduction in symmetry of the sulphate anion from T d to C 3v or even C 2v . No evidence of bands attributable to the halide ions was found.