Elkahia journal / History & evidence
Reading the date of a discovery
Discovery, description, approval and renaming are different events.
For an approved mineral, an identifier such as 2014-111 is an IMA proposal number. Its first part records a year in the naming and approval process, not necessarily the year a specimen was collected.
For grandfathered minerals, the IMA list gives an original-description year where one is known. Records for renamed or redefined minerals may instead refer to a later nomenclature decision. An entry marked with a question mark should remain uncertain when it is presented to readers.
The discovery-country field follows the master list and uses present-day national boundaries. It must not be confused with a list of every country in which the mineral occurs, or with the origin of a particular gemstone sold by a merchant.