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New-mineral proposals

By the end of 2006, the CNMNC will handle about 60 new-mineral proposals, approximately the same number as in the previous few years (64 proposals in 2005; 59 in 2004, 70 in 2003, 67 in 2002) in batches of, on average, five proposals per month. Members will also have deliberated on five proposals involving mineral nomenclature revisions, the most substantial being a new nomenclature system for the pearceite­polybasite group and for minerals in the monazite group. In addition, members approved the discreditation of about 130 minerals and names on the Commission's listing of 'grandfathered, questionable and non-approved' minerals.

CNMMN subcommittees:
1. Sulfosalt (Chairman: Yves Moelo, France)
2. Pyrochlore (Chairman: Scott Ercit, Canada)
3. Tourmaline (Chairman: Milan Novák, Czech Republic)
4. Alunite (Chairman: Peter Bayliss, Australia)
5. Epidote (Chairman: Thomas Armbruster, Switzerland)
6. Amphibole (Chairpersons, Frank Hawthorne and Roberta Oberti, Canada)
7. Unnamed minerals (Chairman: Dorian Smith, Canada)
8. Aenigmatite (Chairman: Dr Ed Grew, USA).

Three of these subcommittees finalised their reports in 2006:
- Members approved both the Epidote and Unnamed Minerals reports and these have been submitted for publication.
- The Sulfosalts report is now published:
Yves Moelo, Emil Makovicky, and the IMA CNMNC Sulfosalt Subcommittee 2008 : Revision of sulfosalt definition and nomenclature. A review of sulfosalts systematics. European Journal of Mineralogy, 20, 1.
- After a long period of chairmanship under Bernard Leake, the Amphibole Subcommittee was re-established in 2006 under Frank Hawthorne and Roberta Oberti.
- The Tourmaline report will be completed before the end of the year.
- The Aenigmatite group subcommittee was established following the IMA meeting in Kobe