In Karelia, a new mineral named selenodzhunoite has been found on the Zaonezhsky Peninsula. As the name suggests, it contains selenium.
Oleg Lavrov, a scientific researcher at the Museum of Precambrian Geology of the Institute of Geology, Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, shared the discovery of the new mineral.
The stone material for the study was collected from the Srednyaya Padma deposit during the summer of 2021. Moscow specialists conducted extensive research, including complex X-ray structural analysis, as the mineral was tightly associated with the most common lead selenide, clausthalite, present in the ore of the deposit.
Despite the challenges, the structure of the new mineral was successfully determined and reported to the International Mineralogical Association. Selenodzhunoite is recognized as the 14th mineral discovered in the Republic of Karelia.
Photo: Viktor Gekimyants / A.E. Fersman Mineralogical Museum