Brno scientists participate in the discovery of a new mineral
Experts from the Department of Geological Sciences of the Faculty of Science MU participated in the discovery and description of a new mineral, which has been named dobšináite. From a mineralogical point of view, it is a new member of the roselite group. It has a dominant calcium content and its colour ranges from white to light pink, the pink colour being caused by the admixture of cobalt. It was originally found near the town of Dobšiná in the Košice Region of Slovakia, and represents the 23rd new mineral discovered in the Slovak Republic.
“In the autumn of 2019, Jiří Toman from the Moravian Museum and Sebastián Hreus from our institute found interesting secondary minerals of arsenic during a field research in Slovakia. Subsequent analytical work, which my colleague Eva Víšková from the Moravian Museum and I performed in our Laboratory of electron microscopy and microanalysis, showed that there was a phase among the material collected that was unknown from natural findings”, said Radek Škoda from the Department of Geological Sciences. He added that, in cooperation with Jiří Sejkora and Zdeněk Dolníček (National Museum), Martin Števko (Earth Science Institute of theSAS and National Museum) and Jakub Plášil (Institute of Physics AS CR), this phase was characterised in detail and approved at the beginning of February 2021 as a new mineral by the Commission for New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification at the International Mineralogical Association.
