43 articles
Mineralica 2026-3
Growth, dissolution and erosion leave traces on diamond crystals that a good loupe already reveals. Erwin Geiss explains what these surfaces tell us about the journey up from deep inside the Earth.
By Erwin Geiss
Mineralica 2026-3
With its emeralds, the Leckbachrinne in the Habachtal is one of the best-known localities in the Eastern Alps. Edith and Otmar Wallenta untangle its patchy mining history and tell of an emerald that only the saw revealed.
By Edith Wallenta and Otmar Wallenta
Mineralica 2026-3
Since 2022, three remote mines in the Gran Sabana have been yielding gold wires like few other localities. Michael Wachtler and Alejandro Stern report from the jungle between Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana.
By Michael Wachtler and Alejandro Stern
FreeMineralica 2026-3
For generations, a slip of paper next to the specimen was all there was. Four examples show how collectors bring order to their collections: from the numbered ledger and card index to digital lists and a database of their own.
By Maximilian Schiller
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Mineralica 2026-2
The Wittichen valley in the Black Forest was once a center of silver and cobalt mining and is one of Germany's classic mineral localities. At its heart are photographs of very rare minerals from one of the district's most comprehensive collections.
By Frank Oppenländer and Matthias Reinhardt
Mineralica 2026-2
In 2025, iridescent andradite garnets were discovered near Drammen, Norway – the first confirmed European locality for rainbow garnets. The authors present the site, the discovery and the play of color, and trace its cause.
By Máximo Alfonso Rojo, Gabija Maršalkaitė and Adrien Sautier
Mineralica 2026-2
Ishikawa in Fukushima Prefecture is one of Japan's most prolific regions for rare-element minerals. Kōta Harihara traces its story from feldspar mining for porcelain to the desperate search for uranium in World War II.
By Kōta Harihara
FreeMineralica 2026-2
For more than a century, the Maucher mineral shop was part of mineralogical Munich. Now the Kristallgarten in Pasing is closing – a look back at a piece of Munich's collecting history.
By Maximilian Schiller
Mineralica 2026-1
Agates from San Rafael in Argentina's Mendoza province are among the most colorful in the world. Johann Zenz presents their localities and special features and tells the controversial story of their discovery.
By Johann Zenz
Mineralica 2026-1
Elba is the type locality of elbaite and was the world's most famous tourmaline locality in the 19th century. Antonio Miglioli describes the geology, historic localities, colors and characteristic terminations of Elba tourmalines.
By Antonio Miglioli
Mineralica 2026-1
Ore was already mined at the Kaiserbründl on the Gratlspitze in Tyrol in the Bronze Age. Thomas Wimmer came for the colorful lapidary material and found a wealth of colorful micro-minerals on the dumps.
By Thomas Wimmer
Mineralica 2025-4
In the deserts of Utah, David Evans saw a collector's dream come true: on a dig near Delta he found red beryl, one of the rarest gemstones in the world – amid blazing heat, hard rhyolite and topaz.
By David Evans
Mineralica 2025-4
Gold rarely forms simple single crystals. Mark Mauthner and Otmar Wallenta use a systematically built collection to show the natural crystal forms of gold – from the octahedron to the wire.
By Mark Mauthner and Otmar Wallenta
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Mineralica 2025-4
Matthias Reinhardt presents recent micromineral finds from the Siegerland – from old dumps and pits, with new parageneses and the rare ludjibaite from the Knorrenberg pits.
By Matthias Reinhardt
Mineralica 2025-4
At the 2025 HardRock Summit, “The King,” “The Queen” and the “Icon Baveno Twin” were reunited for the first time – the most important amazonite–smoky quartz specimens from the Icon Pocket of the Smoky Hawk Claim in Colorado.
By Maximilian Schiller
FreeMineralica 2025-3
At a mineral show, Herwig Pelckmans spotted a fluorite shaped like a regular dodecahedron – a form fluorite cannot grow. The story of a cut specimen that is all about conversation value.
By Herwig Pelckmans
Mineralica 2025-3
Karl Wanek from Gloggnitz found almost all of his roughly 5,000 specimens himself – in alpine clefts, old mines and abroad. Johann Zenz portrays one of Austria's most important collectors and his partner Renate Kain.
By Johann Zenz
Mineralica 2025-3
The Red Cloud Mine in Arizona produced the world's finest deep red-orange wulfenite. Gerd M. Wiedenbeck tells its story from silver mining to the “Red Gem Pocket” and of his own collecting in the mine.
By Gerd M. Wiedenbeck
Mineralica 2025-3
On the Maissauer Berg in Lower Austria, a single quartz vein holds almost every color variety of quartz – amethyst, smoky quartz, citrine and iron quartz. Gerald Knobloch traces its story from 1848 to today's “Amethyst World.”
By Gerald Knobloch
Mineralica 2025-2
British geochemist Christopher Smith-Duque paints minerals against a black background. In an interview at the 2025 Tucson Show, he tells how his fascination with specimens led him from the lab to the easel.
By Maximilian Schiller
Mineralica 2025-2
Martin Grüll presents Austria's most important fluorite localities – state by state, from historic classics to little-known new finds, with green octahedra from the Hocharn and violet crystals from the Weisseck.
By Martin Grüll
Mineralica 2025-2
In May 2023, Henk Smeets and three friends spent a week hunting minerals on São Miguel, the main island of the Azores. Beneath the green volcanic landscape they found tiny, sometimes extremely rare minerals.
By Henk Smeets
Mineralica 2025-2
At the Riepenkar below the Olperer, people were mining rock crystal as early as the Stone Age. Walter Ungerank tells how collectors found blades, scrapers and arrowheads of quartz there – and what archaeology made of them.
By Walter Ungerank
FreeOnline exclusive
Mineralica magazine is represented in the USA for the first time! An attempt to put the impressions into words.
By Maximilian Schiller
Mineralica 2025-1
In an exclusive interview, the aspiring artist Tatiana Falkova talks about her art and her creative career. She masterfully captures the beauty of minerals in watercolors and gives us an insight into her inspiring work.
By Maximilian Schiller
Mineralica 2025-1
Amethyst in granitic pegmatites is a rarity worldwide. Michael Menzies explains how it forms there and presents the three most important occurrences: the Little Gem Mine, Deer Hill and Cuasso al Monte.
By Michael Menzies
Mineralica 2025-1
A remarkable find in the Swiss Alps: the young strahler (crystal hunter) Johannes Rüf came across an extraordinary cleft full of smoky quartz gwindels, presented here for the first time.
By Johannes Ruef
Mineralica 2025-1
Agates from the province of Chihuahua in northern Mexico stand out for their variety of colors and patterns. Johann Zenz presents the desert localities, their history and the most important sites.
By Johann Zenz
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FreeOnline exclusive
How to take good mineral photos with a smartphone and simple home-made tools: the right background, neutral light, a diffuser and aluminum-foil reflectors – plus tips for cameras and macro lenses.
By Matthew Parshchikov
FreeOnline exclusive
About radioactive decay, half-life and interesting methods to make the invisible radiation visible.
By Rudolf Geipel
Mineralica 2024
The Wolf Mine near Herdorf in the Siegerland is world-famous for its raspberry-red rhodochrosite, the miners' “raspberry spar”. Markus Henrich and Matthias Reinhardt tell the mine's story and present its minerals.
By Markus Henrich and Matthias Reinhardt
Mineralica 2024
In California's Pala District, the pegmatites of Chief Mountain have yielded some of North America's finest gem specimens – spectacular kunzite and blue-cap tourmaline. Mark Mauthner on the mines and their minerals.
By Mark Mauthner
Mineralica 2024
In the summer of 1976, Erika and Rudolf Planitzer made a find of the century at the Saurüssel in the Zillertal: sceptre and window amethysts by the hundred. Martin Grüll tells the story from Erika's diary.
By Martin Grüll
FreeOnline exclusive
The search for radioactive minerals is an exciting activity that requires special equipment and expertise.
By Sean Price
FreeOnline exclusive
The rare copper-nickel-bismuth sulphide mückeite was first discovered in the Grüne Au mine in Siegerland, Germany. An outline of the special discovery site and the history of the unique find.
By Matthias Reinhardt
FreeOnline exclusive
It has long been known that the world-famous poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a passionate mineral collector. New research has now revealed that he was also interested in the minerals of the Zillertal.
By Walter Ungerank
FreeOnline exclusive
Fossils are fascinating remains of past life forms that offer us insights into the history and evolution of the earth. From prehistoric creatures to fossilized plants, fossils tell stories of times long past.
By Maximilian Schiller
FreeOnline exclusive
Minerals are a wonder of nature, producing a multitude of shapes and colors and at the same time offering insights into the fascinating processes of the earth's history.
By Maximilian Schiller
FreeOnline exclusive
In the summer of 1994, Erwin Burgsteiner discovered a productive cleft with many excellent pericline, adularia, sphene and apatite specimens at the Großer Finagl in the Untersulzbach Valley, Austria.
By Erwin Burgsteiner
FreeOnline exclusive
A survey of mineral pigments is given along with their availability, occurrences and uses from prehistoric times up to current ecological trends.
By Michael Götzinger
FreeOnline exclusive
The Knappenwand in the Untersulzbachtal in Salzburg has been a world-famous site for minerals like epidote for over a hundred years. Over the years, many different leaseholders have tried their luck and made significant finds.
By Erwin Burgsteiner
FreeOnline exclusive
The series “Mineralogy simply explained” connects collector's specimens with science. Paul Gruber uses galena from the Wölsendorf fluorite district in Bavaria to explain key technical terms.
By Paul Gruber
FreeOnline exclusive
Thanks to state-of-the-art technology, one of the most important gold finds of the 21st century was made in the Alpine region. About a treasure hunt where the truth prevailed in the end.
By Michael Wachtler