Lianbinite

Lianbinite, Mineral of the Year 2025

For 2025 the “Mineral of the Year” award has been assigned to lianbinite. The mineral was discovered on specimens collected at the western end of Pusch Ridge, Santa Catalina Mountains, north of Tucson, Pima Co., Arizona, USA. The GPS coordinates of the type locality are: 32°21’42” N, 110°57’29” W, 975 m above sea level. The mineral was characterized by a mixed USA/China team leaded by Hexiong Yang (Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona @ Tucson, USA). Lianbinite belongs the class 10 of Strunz (organic minerals), being a glycolate, namely a derivative of glycolic acid, C₂H₄O₃. Like all organic minerals, lianbinite represent the result of natural (geologic) processes involving living organisms. In this case the mineral originates from evaporation process of fluids containing glycolic acid and ammonium derived from plants or bacterial activities.

So far 10 mineral species belonging to the glycolate group have been described. All of them were found at the same locality (Santa Catalina Mountains), and all of them were discovered in the last years: lazaraskeite (2019), stanevansite (2022), jimkrieghite, lianbinite, gleckerite (2023), domitrovicite, rasmussenite (2024), fuchunite, puschridgeite, henrysunite (2025).Lianbinite is the first case of mineral containing two different forms of glycolate units: the glycolate anion (C₂H₃O₃)^– and the glycolic acid molecule (C₂H₄O₃). All other minerals contain the former unit only (but fuchunite, which was discovered two years after lianbinite).
Lianbinite occurs as bladed or acicular crystals up to 0.60×0.08×0.03 mm in dimensions. Crystals are colorless, transparent, with a white streak and a vitreous lustre; they are brittle and very soft, Mohs’ hardness ranging from 1 to 1.5. Density could not be measured as lianbinite dissolves in any liquid; D_calc is 1.497 g·cm^–3 (see Figure 1 and 2).

The empirical chemical formula of lianbinite is N_0.98C_3.97H_11.06O₆. Based on the information obtained from the structural analysis it can be idealized into (NH₄)(C₂H₃O₃)(C₂H₄O₃).
The crystal structure of lianbinite has been solved and refined up to R = 0.036 in the monoclinic space group P2₁/c. Its unit-cell parameters are a = 3.9136(1), b = 18.7568(6), c = 10.7195 (3) Å, β = 107.479(3)°, V = 750.56(3) ų, Z = 4. It contains a glycolate anion (C₂H₃O₃), a glycolic acid molecule (C₂H₄O₃), and an ammonium group (NH₄) in the asymmetric unit; four molecular units are accommodated in the unit cell. The structure is unique among minerals; however, its synthetic analogue is well known (see Figure 3 and 4).
The mineral took its name after Bin Lian (b. 1964), a geomicrobiologist at the Nanjing Normal University, China, for his outstanding contributions to the understanding of interactions between minerals/rocks and microorganisms. Bin Lian authored more than 100 papers and 9 patents, has been a council member for the Chinese Society of Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry since 2017, as well as a committee member for the Chinese Society of Geological Microbiology.
The concurrent occurrence of the glycolate anion and the glycolic acid molecule, never recorded so far in Nature, marks the novelty of lianbinite and led this organic mineral to earn the “Mineral of the year” award.
The full description of the new mineral has been published in the Americal Mineralogist [Yang, H., Gu, X., Lazar, W., Gibbs, R.B., Downs, R.T. (2025): Lianbinite, (NH₄)(C₂H₃O₃)(C₂H₄O₃), a new glycolate mineral from the Santa Catalina Mountains, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A.].

Link to the original article:
https://msaweb.org/MSA/AmMin/TOC/2025/Abstracts/AM110P1481.pdf

Miyawakiite-(Y)

Miyawakiite-(Y), Mineral of the Year 2024

For 2024 the “Mineral of the Year” award has been assigned to miyawakiite-(Y). CNMNC assigned this new mineral because of its new and unique crystal structure.

Miyawakiite-(Y) was discovered in an abandoned pegmatite mine located at Suishoyama, Iizaka village, Kawamata, Date District, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, and was fully characterized by a Japanese research team lead by Daisuke Nishio-Hamane (Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, Japan).
The pegmatite at the Suishoyama mine is rich in REE-bearing minerals, such as allanite-(Y) and britholite-(Y), plus carbonates such as caysichite-(Y) and tengerite-(Y). Miyawakiite-(Y) and the other carbonates occur as the secondary minerals formed by supergene alteration of allanite-(Y) and britholite-(Y). Miyawakiite-(Y) is the third mineral having the Suishoyama pegmatite as the type locality, besides britholite-(Y) (1938) and iwashiroite-(Y) (2003). The approximate GPS coordinates are 37°40’ N, 140°37′ E.
At the type locality miyawakiite-(Y) occurs as thin plates or columnar crystal with a pale yellow colour, transparent with a vitreous lustre, with dimensions typically ranging from 0.2 to 0.5 mm. The ideal chemical formula of miyawakiite-(Y) is □Y₄Fe²⁺₂(Si₈O₂₀)(CO₃)₄(H₂O)₃. In the empirical formula K partially substitutes for vacancy, other REEs and Ca partially substitute for Y, Mg and Mn²⁺ partially substitute for Fe²⁺. Miyawakiite-(Y) is chemically related to caysichite-(Y), both being silicate minerals including REEs and carbonate groups. However the two minerals have different crystal structures.

The unprecedented crystal structure of miyawakiite-(Y) has been solved and refined up to R = 3.86% in the tetragonal space group I4/mcm. Its unit-cell parameters are a = 17.53637(9) Å, c = 9.55702(8) Å, V = 2939.02(4) Å3, Z = 4. The structure is quite unique: a Y- and Fe-centered polyhedral arrangement with CO₃ triangles forms a prismatic framework, with channels developing along the c axis. A SiO₄ tetrahedral network occurs in this channel, forming a zeolite-like framework with larger sites inside, mostly vacant and only partially occupied by K.
The mineral took its name after Ritsuro Miyawaki (b. 1959), mineralogist at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan, for his lifetime contribution to the systematic mineralogy, with a special attention to REE-bearing minerals. Ritsuro Miyawaki described some 30 new mineral species. Besides, Ritsuro Miyawaki provided a tremendous service to Mineral Sciences serving (-2018) as the national representative for Japan within the IMA Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification. In 2018 Ritsuro Miyawaki was appointed as chair of the CNMNC for the 2018-2022 period. During his four-year tenure he evaluated more than 500 proposed new minerals.
The full description of the new mineral has been published in the Journal of Mineralogical and Petrological Sciences [Nishio-Hamane, D., Momma, K., Shimobayashi, N., Ohnishi, M., Kobayashi, T. (2024): Miyawakiite–(Y), □Y₄Fe₂(Si₈O₂₀)(CO₃)₄(H₂O)₃, a new mineral from Suishoyama, Kawamata Town, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan].

Link to the original article: Journal of Mineralogical and Petrological Sciences (2024) 119: 023

Mineral of the Year

Mineral of the Year

Since 2014, IMA has selected the most inspiring and exciting new minerals discovered during the year as “Mineral of the Year” to promote mineral sciences. The selection is made by a vote of the members of the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification (CNMNC), taking into account the following aspects.

• aesthetics (nice crystals, well-developed morphology)
• unprecedented crystal structure
• unusual combination of chemical elements
• relevance in mineralogical systematics and in Earth sciences overall

2024
Miyawakiite

2023
Batoniite

2022
Lazaraskeite

2021
Seaborgite

2020
Bajorite

2019
Tewite

2018
Carmeltazite

2017
Rowleyite

2016
Merelaniite

2015
Chanabayaite

2014
Ophirite

Lazaraskeite

Lazaraskeite, Mineral of the Year, 2022

For 2022 the “Mineral of the Year” award has been assigned to lazaraskeite. The mineral was discovered in the area of Oro Valley, north of Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, USA. It was found and fully characterized by a research team lead by Hexiong Yang, from the Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0077, USA.

More precisely lazaraskeite was found on the western end of Pusch Ridge, in the high elevation (975 m) of the Santa Catalina Mountains. where it occurs as individual crystals up to 0.2×0.2×0.8 mm or as aggregates. Crystals have a greenish-blue color, and are transparent (Fig. 1). Associated minerals are chrysocolla, malachite, wulfenite, mimetite, hydroxylpyromorphite, hematite, microcline, muscovite, and quartz.

The ideal chemical formula of lazaraskeite is Cu(C₂H₃O₃)₂. Therefore, it represents the first known example of an organic mineral containing glycolate. Shortly thereafter, three other glycolate minerals were discovered and described from the same locality: stanvevansite, jimkriegite, and lianbinite.

Lazaraskeite is monoclinic. Actually, two distinct polytypes occur, which have the same space group, P2₁/n, but different yet related structures. The unit cell parameters of lazaraskeite-M₁ are a = 5.1049(2), b = 8.6742(4), c= 7.7566(3) Å, β = 106.834(2)°, whereas those of lazaraskeite-M₂ are a = 5.1977(3), b = 7.4338(4), c = 8.8091(4) Å, β = 101.418(2)°. The crystal structures of both polytypes have been refined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction data to R = 2.6% (M₁) and 2.4% (M₂). The structure of lazaraskeite in both its variants is new among minerals, whereas synthetic Cu(C₂H₃O₃)₂ is known to have the same structure of polytype M₁.

The mineral name is a composite after the names of the two mineral collectors who found it, Warren G. Lazar and Beverly Raskin. 

The state of Arizona is confirmed as the seat of beautiful and interesting crystals, since another mineral from Arizona got the “Mineral of the Year” award in 2017: rowleyite, after the Rowley mine, Maricopa County.

The full description of the new mineral has been published in the American Mineralogist [Yang, H., Gu, X., Gibbs, R., Evans, S., Downs, R.T., Jibrin, Z. (2022): Lazaraskeite, Cu(C₂H₃O₃)₂, the first organic mineral containing glycolate, from the Santa Catalina Mountains, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A. American Mineralogist, 107, 509-516].

Ophirite

Ophirite, Mineral of the Year 2014

We are pleased to announce that for 2014 the “Mineral of the Year” award has been assigned to ophirite.

Ophirite, Ca₂Mg₄[Zn₂Mn₂3+(H₂O)₂(Fe3+W₉O₃₄)₂]·46H₂O, is a new mineral species from the Ophir Hill Consolidated mine, Ophir district, Oquirrh Mountains, Tooele County, Utah, USA, and was described by Anthony R. Kampf of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and co-authors: John M. Hughes (University of Vermont), Barbara P. Nash (University of Utah), Stephen E. Wright (Miami University), George R. Rossman (Caltech), and Joe Marty (Utah) (Kampf et al., 2014). Ophirite forms beautiful, orange-brown tablet-shaped crystals up to 1 mm in length and is the first known mineral to contain a lacunary defect derivative of the Keggin anion, i.e. a heteropolyanion missing some of its octahedral segments (Keggin, 1934). Phases with the Keggin anion are important in solid state chemistry as a catalyst (e.g. Sun et al., 2009).  

Kampf AR, Hughes JM, Nash BP, Wright SE, Rossman GR, Marty J (2014) Ophirite, Ca₂Mg₄[Zn₂Mn₂3+(H₂O)₂(Fe3+WO₃₄)₂]·46H₂O, a new mineral with a heteropolytungstate tri-lacunary Keggin anion. American Mineralogist 99: 1045-1051

Keggin JF (1934) The structure and formula of 12-phosphotungstic acid. Proceedings of the Royal Society A 144: 75-100 

Sun CY, Liu SX, Liang DD, Shao K₉Z, Ren YH, Su ZM (2009) Highly stable crystalline catalysts based on a microporous metal−organic framework and polyoxometalates. Journal of the American Chemical Society 131: 1883-1888

Chanabayaite

Chanabayaite, Mineral of the Year 2015

We are pleased to announce that for 2015 the “Mineral of the Year” award has been assigned to  chanabayaite.

This mineral was discovered and studied by Nikita V. Chukanov of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Chernogolovka, Moscow Region) in collaboration with Natalia V. Zubkova (Moscow State University, MSU), Gerhard Möhn (Niedernhausen, Germany), Igor V. Pekov (MSU), Dmitry Yu. Pushcharovsky (MSU), and Aleksandr E. Zadov (NPP Teplokhim, Moscow). 

Chanabayaite, Cu₂(N₃C₂H₂)Cl(NH₃,Cl,H₂O,[])₄, is a new mineral species from Mt. Pabellón de Pica near the village of Chanabaya in the Tarapacá region of Chile (Chukanov et al. 2015). This unusual organometallic mineral does not only have a unique crystal structure that features the 1,2,4-triazolate anion (N₃C₂H₂)-, but also acts as a “bridge” between the geosphere and the biosphere because its deep-blue crystals formed where guano deposits (the source of the C and N) came into contact with a chalcopyrite-bearing gabbro (which supplied the Cu). Chanabayaite formed by Na and Cl leaching from, and by the dehydration of, another triazolate-bearing natural compound – and potentially another new mineral – NaCu₂Cl₃[N₃C₂H₂]₂[NH₃]₂·4H₂O (Zubkova et al. 2016).

Chukanov NV (2014) Infrared Spectra of Mineral Species: Extended Library. Springer-Verlag GmbH, Dordrecht–Heidelberg–New York–London, 1, 716 pp
Chukanov NV, Chervonnyi AD (2016) Infrared Spectroscopy of Minerals and Related Compounds. Springer, Cham–Heidelberg– Dordrecht–New York–London, 1,109 pp
Chukanov NV and 5 coauthors (2015) Chanabayaite, Cu₂(N₃C₂H₂)Cl(NH₃,Cl,H₂O,[])₄, a new mineral containing triazolate anion. Geology of Ore Deposits 57: 712-720
Zubkova NV and 7 coauthors (2016) The crystal structure of the natural 1,2,4-triazolate compound NaCu₂Cl₃[N₃C₂H₂]₂[NH₃]₂·4H₂O. Zeitschrift für Kristallographie 231: 47-54

Merelaniite

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.

Rowleyite

Rowleyite, Mineral of the year 2017

We are pleased to announce that for 2017 the “Mineral of the Year” award has been assigned to rowleyite.

The prestigious title went to black cuboctahedral crystals peppering green mottramite in an underground tunnel at the abandoned Rowley mine in Arizona, and named for the type locality rowleyite. The chemical formula of this new species is as complex as its crystal structure, and both are a testament to the capabilities of modern science and to the uniqueness of geological conditions that led to rowleyite crystallization. Although structurally related compounds are known in materials science as “salt-templated mesoporous solids” and “polyoxometalates”, it is difficult to succinctly identify something that has the formula [Na(NH₄,K)₉Cl₄][V₂^5+,4+(P,As)O₈]₆·n[H₂O, Na,NH₄,K,Cl]. Rowleyite can be described as a phosphovanadate with a zeolite-like, porous framework, in which small cages host the [(NH₄,K)₉Cl₄]⁵⁺ clusters forming a “salt net” and large cages accommodate H₂O, NH₄, Na, K and Cl. This paragon of mineralogical complexity was discovered and published in American Mineralogist (volume 102, pages 1037-1044) by Anthony R. Kampf (Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, USA), Mark A. Cooper (University of Manitoba, Canada), Barbara P. Nash and Thure E. Cerling (University of Utah, USA), Joe Marty (Salt Lake City, Utah), Daniel R. Hummer (Southern Illinois University, USA), Aaron J. Celestian (Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County), Timothy P. Rose (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA), and Thomas J. Trebisky (University of Arizona, USA). Congratulations to the winning team on this exciting discovery!

The two closest runners-up were kegginite (another polyoxovanadate from the Packrat mine in Colorado, described by Anthony R. Kampf and colleagues (2017) in American Mineralogist and the Ti³⁺-dominant garnet rubinite discovered in the Vigarano, Allende and Efremovka carbonaceous chondrites by Chi Ma et al. (2017).

How does it looks like, check it out, here.

Kampf AR, Cooper MA, Nash BP, Cerling TE, Marty J, Hummer DR, Celestian AJ, Rose TP, Trebisky TJ (2017) Rowleyite, [Na(NH4,K)₉Cl₄][V^5+,4+₂(P,As)O₈]₆·n[H₂O,Na,NH₄,K, Cl][Na(NH₄,K)₉Cl₄][V₂^5+,4+(P,As)O₈]·n[H₂O,Na,NH₄,K,Cl]⁠, a new mineral with a microporous framework structure. American Mineralogist 102: 1037-1044

Kampf AR, Hughes JM, Nash BP, Marty J (2017) Kegginite, Pb₃Ca₃[AsV₁₂O₄0(VO)]·20H₂O, a new mineral with a novel ε-isomer of the Keggin anion. American Mineralogist 102: 461-465

Ma C, Yoshizaki T, Krot AN, Beckett JR, Nakamura T, Nagashima K, Muto J, Ivanova MA (2017) Discovery of rubinite, Ca₃Ti³⁺₂Si₃O₁₂, a new garnet mineral in refractory inclusions from carbonaceous chondrites. 80th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society 2017 (LPI Contrib. No. 1987), 6023.pdf

Carmeltazite

Carmeltazite, Mineral of the year 2018

We are pleased to announce that for 2018 the “Mineral of the Year” award has been assigned to Carmeltazite.

The new complex oxide carmeltazite (ZrAl₂Ti₄O₁₁) forms black inclusions in blue corundum crystals (“Carmel SapphireTM”) from Cretaceous pyroclastic rocks and associated alluvial deposits at Kishon Mid-Reach in northern Israel. Its name alludes to the type locality at Mt. Carmel and the three principal metals in its formula (Ti, Al and Zr). Carmeltazite was discovered by William L. Griffin (Macquarie University, Australia), Sarah E.M. Gain (University of Western Australia), Luca Bindi (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy), Vered Toledo (Shefa Gems Ltd., Israel), Fernando Cámara (Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy), Martin Saunders (University of Western Australia), and Suzanne Y. O’Reilly (Macquarie University). Since its description was published in Minerals (Griffin et al., 2018), the mineral has gained much publicity online as “the world’s newest gemstone” (EraGem, 2019), and even an “extraterrestrial mineral harder than diamonds” (Flatley, 2019). Although perfectly terrestrial in origin and not particularly gemmy, the Mineral of the Year 2018 does contain Ti3+, altogether rare in the geological environment, and possesses a peculiar crystal structure, which is remotely related to the close-packed arrangement of spinel. As can be seen from its formula, the structure of carmeltazite is cation- and anion-deficient relative to spinels, while its symmetry is reduced to orthorhombic. Perhaps even more remarkable than its public image or structure is the association of carmeltazite with other Ti3+ and carbide minerals, which indicates very unusual geological conditions in their volcanic cradle and promises new exciting discoveries in the future (Griffin et al., 2018).

We would also like to acknowledge here the close runners-up, which included the modular carbonato-phosphato-silicate aravaite from pyrometamorphic rocks of the Hatrurim Complex in Israel (Krüger et al., 2018) and the first-ever tin sulfate genplesite from the Oktyabr’skoe Cu-Ni-Pd-Pt deposit in Siberia, Russia (Pekov et al., 2018). Once again, we congratulate Bill Griffin and his co-authors on their interesting discovery.

Check out its structure, and its amazing color.

EraGem (2019) Carmeltazite the world’s newest gemstone (https://eragem.com/news/)
Griffin WL, Gain SEM, Bindi L, Toledo V, Cámara F, Saunders M, O’Reilly SY (2018) Carmeltazite, ZrAl₂Ti₄O₁₁, a new mineral trapped in corundum from volcanic rocks of Mt Carmel, northern Israel. Minerals 8:601 (https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/8/12/601)

Seaborgite

Seaborgite, Mineral of the Year 2021

We are pleased to announce that for 2021 the “Mineral of the Year” award has been assigned to seaborgite. The mineral was found and fully characterized by a research team led by Anthony R. Kampf, from the Mineral Sciences Department of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA.

Seaborgite was found underground in the Blue Lizard mine, Red Canyon, White Canyon District, San Juan Co., Utah, USA, where it occurs on a thick crust of gypsum overlaying a matrix comprised mostly of quartz crystals. Associated minerals are copiapite, ferrinatrite, ivsite, metavoltine, römerite, and other currently unknown minerals.

Seaborgite occurs as long flattened prisms (or blades), light-yellow in color and up to 0.2 mm in length. Crystals typically occur in radiating sprays, and looks very nice (first figure).

The ideal chemical formula of seaborgite is LiNa₆K₂(UO₂)(SO₄)₅(SO₃OH)(H₂O), hence is an uranyl sulfate mineral. Seaborgite is the only known mineral species containing both lithium and uranium as species-forming elements, and it is also one of the few minerals containing three distinct alkali metals.

Seaborgite is triclinic, with space group: P-1, and unit cell parameters a = 5.4511(4), b = 14.4870(12), c = 15.8735(15) Å,  and alpha=76.295(5), beta = 81.439(6), gamma =85.511(6)° . Its crystal structure has been refined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction data to R = 3.77%. The structure of seaborgite (second figure) is new and unprecedented, although it is based on the same uranyl sulfate cluster that is topologically identical to the one occurring in the crystal structure of bluelizardite.

The mineral was named after Glenn Seaborg (1912-1999), an American chemist who was involved in the synthesis, discovery and investigation of 10 transuranium elements, including seaborgium. These studies led him to win the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Seaborgite is the third “Mineral of the Year” winner having its type locality in the USA. The previous winners were ophirite (2014, after the Ophir mine, Tooele Co., Utah) and rowleyite (2017, after the Rowley mine, Maricopa Co., Arizona).

The Blue Lizard mine was a prolific mineralogical site, being the type locality for 22 other new mineral species besides seaborgite.

The full description of the new mineral has been published in the American Mineralogist [Kampf, A.R., Olds, T.A., Plášil, J., Marty, J., Perry, S.N., Corcoran, L., Burns, P.C. (2021): Seaborgite, LiNa₆K₂(UO₂)(SO₄)₅(SO₃OH)(H₂O), the first uranyl mineral containing lithium. American Mineralogist, 106, 105-111].