Merelaniite, Mineral of the year 2016

We are pleased to announce that for 2016 the “Mineral of the Year” award has been assigned to  merelaniite. This mineral was discovered in collector specimens from the Merelani region in northeastern Tanzania, and investigated by John A. Jaszczak (Michigan Technological University, Houghton, USA), Michael S. Rumsey (Natural History Museum, London, UK), Luca Bindi (Università di Firenze, Florence, Italy), Stephen A. Hackney (MTU), Michael A. Wise (National Museum of Natural History, Washington, USA), Chris J. Stanley (NHM), and John Spratt (NHM). Merelaniite (Mo₄Pb₄VSbS₁₅), whose unusual whisker-like crystals were initially mistaken for molybdenite, is actually a new member of the cylindrite group (Jaszczak et al. 2016). The new species is remarkable not only for its morphology, which is reminiscent of slender, partially unwound microscopic “scrolls”, or the structure composed of alternating pseudo-tetragonal (PbS-type) and pseudo-hexagonal (MoS₂-type) layers, but also for the fact that it comes from the famous mining area that has produced the gemstone tanzanite (vanadium-bearing blue zoisite) for 50 years. Other unusual minerals found in association with merelaniite are well-crystallized wurtzite and alabandite, which represent just one evolutionary stage in the complex metamorphic history of the Merelani deposits. We would like to congratulate John Jaszczak and his co-authors on this award and encourage the readers to learn more about merelaniite from theiropen-access article in Minerals(www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/6/4/115).

Jaszczak JA, Rumsey MS, Bindi L, Hackney SA, Wise MA, Stanley CJ, Spratt J (2016) Merelaniite, Mo4Pb4VSbS15, a new molybdenum-essential member of the cylindrite group, from the Merelani tanzanite deposit, Lelatema Mountains, Manyara Region, Tanzania. Minerals 6:115.