Mindat.org - The Mineralogical Reference

Mindat.org is a mineralogical reference database maintained by the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, and its content is moderated by working mineralogists rather than open to unreviewed public edits, giving each mineral species and variety page checkable chemistry, crystal system, hardness and locality data a reader could in principle verify against a physical specimen. That moderation model, not the name of the maintaining institute, is the real basis for treating it as a reference here. Use it for a mineral's chemistry, crystal system, hardness or known localities; it is a scientific mineralogical reference, not a source on any symbolic or religious association a tradition separately attaches to a stone.