12 Minerals to Collect in 2025

For 2025, if building or adding to a mineral collection is on your list, here are 12 minerals (one for each month of the year) that could grace any collection at any level.

- JEFF STARR

Quartz, Brandberg Area, Namibia, Jeff Starr Collection

This list can be used as a baseline springboard to the collection of your dreams. This process could, and probably should, take years, as your knowledge and eye grow along with your collection. And so we begin…

#1 QUARTZ - SIO2

Quartz is the most common mineral on Earth, with a simple composition and ubiquitous set of localities, meaning it’s found just about anywhere. Below are a few of the most popular types of quartz and some of their best collecting locations.

Clear (optical) quartz: Arkansas, Peru, Brazil and India

Amethyst: Brazil, Uruguay, Namibia and Georgia

Smoky quartz: Swiss Alps, United States, China and Brazil

Rose quartz: Brazil

Related forms of silica include opals and agates, among others, so the collecting possibilities are almost endless. Also, as with some of the other minerals in this article, there are numerous desirable varieties that can make building your collection with quartz more exciting and more challenging.

Pyrite with quartz, Spruce Claim, Washington, Jeff Starr Collection

#2 PYRITE – FeS2

A nod to beautiful, golden pyrite is a must for collectors. Affectionately known as ‘Fool’s Gold’ (affectionately, that is, unless you were one of those miners that were fooled), pyrite has been on every kid’s and every adult’s mineral radar since day one. Most often in shiny cubes, pyritohedrons, or octahedrons, the surfaces can often be smooth or striated. Great localities include Spain, Peru, and Italy.

Calcite, Elmwood Mine, Tennessee, Zach Goodman Collection

#3 CALCITE – CaCO3