List of minerals (complete)

It is currently not possible to have a "complete list of minerals". The International Mineralogical Association (IMA) is the international group that recognises new minerals and new mineral names. However, minerals discovered before 1959 did not go through the official naming procedure. Some minerals published previously have been either confirmed or discredited since that date. This list contains a mixture of mineral names that have been approved since 1959 and those mineral names believed to still refer to valid mineral species (these are called "grandfathered" species). Presently, each year about 50-60 new mineral species are officially approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification (CNMNC) of the International Mineralogical Association.

The IMA/CNMNC administrates c. 6,500 names, and the Handbook of Mineralogy lists 3,776 species. The IMA Database of Mineral Properties/ RRUFF Project lists 4,532 valid species (IMA/CNMNC) of total 4,773 minerals. The Webmineral.com lists 2,722 published and approved (IMA/CNMNC) minerals, 1,627 pre-IMA minerals, 81 discredited minerals (IMA/CNMNC), 2,691 synonyms, 149 approved minerals but not published yet and 123 not approved names.

Due to the length of this list, it is divided into alphabetical groups. The minerals are sorted by name.

• List of minerals A (complete)
• List of minerals B (complete)
• List of minerals C (complete)
• List of minerals D-E (complete)
• List of minerals F-G (complete)
• List of minerals H-J (complete)
• List of minerals K-L (complete)
• List of minerals M-O (complete)
• List of minerals P-R (complete)
• List of minerals S (complete)
• List of minerals T (complete)
• List of minerals U-Z (complete)
• List of minerals (synonyms)

• Abbreviations:
  • "*" - discredited (IMA/CNMNC status).
  • "?" - questionable/doubtful (IMA/CNMNC status).
  • ^N - published without approval of the IMA/CNMNC.
  • ^G - a name used to designate a group of species.
  • ^I - intermediate member of a solid-solution series.
  • ^H - hypothetical mineral (synthetic, anthropogenic, etc.)
  • ^ch - chemical analysis incomplete. Published without approval and formally discredited or not approved, yet.
    • "Construction sites", mainly: Arrojadite group, Pyrochlore and Amphibole supergroups, and Yftisite-(Y).

Notes

• The name of a new mineral is an IMA secret until it is approved and its complete chemical analysis published. The IMA uses a code for its own procedures for the supposed new mineral (and so it's a synonym). Ferri-ottoliniite's proposal got code 2001-067, it was redefined and approved as 2001-067a in 2003, for instance.
• Current IMA regulations do not allow substances of anthropogenic origin (burning coal mine dumps, coal mine fires, slag, etc.) to be validated as a mineral species.
• Some old minerals were known before their XX century names were first published.
• Some mineral names got a revision, this changed their first letters. Sodium-pharmacosiderite is now natropharmacosiderite, natroapophyllite is now apophyllite-(NaF), for instance. But 2010, hydroxylapatite, fluorapatite, fluorellestadite and chlorapatite got their old names back.
• Some minerals were published without being submitted to IMA approval.
  • Imogolite, 09.ED.20, was rejected by the IMA 1962, approved by the AIPEA (Association Internationale Pour l'Étude des Argiles) Nomenclature Committee at its 1970 Tokyo meeting, and finally redefined and approved by the IMA 1987.
• Some IMA/CNMNC (1959–2000) approved minerals still don't have its complete chemical analysis published: IMA 1998-018 (Fluornatromicrolite), IMA 1995-025 (Natroglaucocerinite), IMA 1987-046a (Ferrolaueite), IMA 1978-064 (approval probably based on fake data), IMA 1977-006 (Whelanite) and IMA 1968-003 (discredited, IMA 2008-B).
• The data of a mineral on the databases is similar but not equal. For instance:
  • Opal is a valid IMA/CNMNC name but it is a mineraloid (a mixture of Cristobalite and/or Tridymite and amorphous silica), it has a page on Mindat.org and Webmineral.com but not on the Handbook of Mineralogy.
    • Mercury (liquid), allophane (amorphous), abhurite (anthropogenic), actinolite (intermediate member of a solid solution series) are IMA/CNMNC valid names too. The reasons can be inherited pre-IMA status or entrenchment in the literature, including medical and legal usage.
  • Oligoclase^I is a Albite variety on Mindat.org and it has pages on the Handbook of Minerals and Webmineral.com, see (List of minerals (synonyms)) (Plagioclase/Albite-Anorthite series). It is not the only intermediate member of a solid solution series with a page on the Handbook of Mineralogy (Mineral varieties).
  • The Handbook of Mineralogy has pages on Clinochrysotile, Orthochrysotile and Parachrysotile, but not on Chrysotile; but they are polytypes of Chrysotile, see (List of minerals (synonyms)).
  • IMA Database of Mineral Properties/ RRUFF Project lists Ottoliniite as a valid mineral, but states that the co-chair of the IMA subcommittee on amphiboles said it isn't a currently approved mineral.
  • Mindat.org gives the chemical formula of some minerals as a range (Ahlfeldite: (Ni,Co)SeO₃·2H₂O) and then, the same formula differs on the IMA Database of Mineral Properties/ RRUFF Project (Ahlfeldite: NiSe⁴⁺O₃·2H₂O).
• Ernest Henry Nickel was vice-chairman of the International Mineralogical Association's Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names (CNMMN), as an australian representative. He and Monte Nichols builded up a mineral database, and with Dorian Smith he listed the unnamed minerals in the literature. And so, he contributed to the expansion of the Strunz Mineralogical Tables (9th ed, 2001) from less than 3,000 species to over 4,000.
• Some names are not names of minerals anymore, but names of a group of minerals:
  • Biotite^G,
    • The IMA/CNMMN, Subcommittee on Nomenclature of the Micas (1998, 1999) has recommended that the name biotite be used for a series including Phlogopite, Siderophyllite, Annite and Eastonite.
  • Chabazite^G,
  • Dachiardite^G,
  • Heulandite^G,
  • Pyrochlore supergroup:
    • The Pyrochlore supergroup got a revision 2010. The update of the databases isn't complete, yet.
    • Pyrochlore^G,
    • Roméite^G,
    • Betafite^G,

See also

• Classification of minerals - Non silicates
• Classification of minerals - Silicates
• Geology
• List of minerals: short list emphasizing those with Oilfield Wiki articles.
• List of rock types
• Mineralogy
• Mineraloid
• Nonmineral
• Rock

External links

• Mindat.org, the mineral database
• Webmineral.com