Crystalline copper "feather" from Itauz Mine, Kazakhstan, an example of a photo from the Mindat database

Mindat.org is a non-commercial online database, claiming to be the largest mineral database and mineralogical reference website on the Internet.^[1] It is used by professional mineralogists, geologists, and amateur mineral collectors alike.

The website contains a significant catalogue of mineral entries, localities, and photographs. Registered editors may add and revise information on the regularly updating database.

As of 2016^[update], it included:

• 45,289 mineral names (this includes mineral varieties, synonyms, and discredited names), of which 5,091 are minerals or mineraloids recognized by the International Mineralogical Association.
• 261,955 mineral localities worldwide, with information on 903,204 mineral occurrences within these sites.
• Over 647,000 photos of minerals have been uploaded, arranged into galleries from collectors and institutions worldwide who wish to share their mineral collections online.
• 48,657 users registered to upload photos and/or edit data.

History

Mindat was started in 1993 as a personal database project by Jolyon Ralph. He then developed further versions as a Microsoft Windows application before launching a community-editable database web site in October 2000.^[2]

Mindat.org is now part of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational foundation incorporated in the state of New York.^[3][4]

Jolyon Ralph was awarded the Mineralogical Society of America's Distinguished public service medal in 2011 for his work on Mindat.org.^[5]