Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification

Hematite crystal 2.7 mm across – Monte Cervandone area, Devero Alp, Baceno, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Province, Piedmont, Italy (Private collection, Matteo Chinellato photo).

Overview: The Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification (CNMNC) of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) was formed with the purpose of controlling the introduction of new minerals and mineral names, rationalizing the mineral nomenclature, reviewing the existing systems of mineral classification, and providing advice on the classification of minerals to the mineralogical community.
The philosophy of the CNMNC is not to impose an arbitrary set of rigid rules on the mineralogical community, but rather to provide a set of coherent guidelines that lead to a reasonably consistent approach to the introduction of new minerals and the application of mineral nomenclature.
The CNMNC consists of representatives appointed by national mineralogical societies or association, and an executive committee consisting of chairman, two vice-chairmen and secretary.

You can visit the IMA-CNMNC website: http://cnmnc.units.it

The official IMA-CNMNC List of Minerals is updated every two months.

Officers:

Elbaite, multicolored crystals up to 7 mm – Rosina vein, San Piero in Campo, Campo nell’Elba, Livorno, Province, Tuscany, Italy. From the base to the terminations the following tourmaline species and varieties can be listed:black= Schorl ; yellow-greenish= Mn-rich fluor-elbaite ; colorless= Fluor-elbaite ; bluish=Fe-rich fluor-elbaite ; colorless= Rossmanite ; gray= Mn- and Fe-rich fluor-elbaite (Private collection, Matteo Chinellato photo).

Chairman: Ferdinando BOSI, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza Univ. di Roma, Italy.

Vice-Chair (Changes in existing nomenclature): Frédéric HATERT, Université de Liège, Faculté des Sciences, Département de Géologie, Place du 20 août, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.

Vice-Chair (General classification matters): Marco PASERO, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Via Santa Maria 53, I-56126 Pisa, Italy

Secretary: Stuart MILLS, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4