New Mineral Discoveries Published in European Journal of Mineralogy

The latest issue of the European Journal of Mineralogy presents three noteworthy studies. Quantitative analysis of aragonite‑group carbonates synthetic mixtures using attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared was conducted by Mahmoud Alkhatib, Nabil Thabteh, Fuad Al-Rimawi, and Mutaz Qutob ¹. The authors applied ATR‑FTIR for rapid qualitative and quantitative assessment of aragonite‐type minerals without sample preparation, developing calibration curves that enable accurate quantification of strontianite and witherite within mixed samples based on absorbance ratios between characteristic peaks. In another paper, Thomas Daniel van Gerve, Philippe Muchez, Ted Nuorivaara, and Olivier Namur investigated the impact of exsolution textures in Fe–Ti oxide minerals on crushing strategies and vanadium and titanium pre‑concentration ¹. Their work focused on vanadium ores from the Bushveld Complex, revealing that certain microscopic textures tightly intergrow minerals and impede separation, while others form coarser structures that enhance processing efficiency through magnetic and flotation methods; identifying these textures is essential for optimizing resource use. A third study introduced Belmonteite, CaMn₂(AsO₄)₂(H₂O)₅·2H₂O, a new arsenate mineral found in the Mn ore deposits of Graveglia Valley, eastern Liguria, Italy by Cristian Biagioni, Jiří Sejkora, and Zdeněk Dolníček ¹. The crystal structure displays {010} layers of six‑fold coordinated Mn atoms flanked by (AsO₄) groups and Ca atoms, connected via hydrogen bonds; its genesis relates to As‑rich oxidizing fluids circulating within the deposit, and it was named after Donato Belmonte for his contributions to Ligurian mineralogy.