New Mineral Discovery Geosites: Valuing for Geoconservation Purposes

Discovery of new minerals contributes substantially to the geoscience development. Localities where such discoveries have been made appear to be unique, and they deserve recognition as new mineral discovery geological heritage sites (NMD geosites). Valuing the latter is a complex procedure. Generally, it appears sensible to accept that NMD geosites are of national importance by definition. Finding several new minerals in one locality (multi-NMD geosite) increases the geosite rank from national to global (examples can be found in northwest Iran and southwest Russia). The 'spirit of novelty' is the essential characteristic of NMD geosites, which helps to attract visitors. Because of the permanent changes in the mineralogical knowledge, validity of some minerals can be disproved later. For such cases, the category of the historical NMD geosites can be applied. Recognition of NMD geosites is the only first, and the foremost, step in their protection from various damages (related to mining and uncontrolled sample collection).