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Some minerals found on Earth are far rarer than diamonds or emeralds, as per the first list of over 2,500 opaque minerals revealed in Friday. These minerals could be used as future Valentine's Day gift because of its exclusivity.

Ichnusaite, fingerite, amicite and nevadaite are some of the scarcest minerals and can only be procured from less than five places around the world, and that too under extremely unusual conditions - said the scientists. "Diamond, ruby, emerald, and other precious gems are found at numerous localities and are sold in commercial quantities, and thus are not rare" alongside those in the study, they wrote in the journal American Mineralogist.

"If you wanted to give your fiancée a really rare ring, forget diamond. Give her Sardinian ichnusaite," Robert Hazen, a co-author of the study at the Carnegie Institution, wrote in a statement. Ichnusaite develops from molybdenum, that looks like lead, and thorium. This is perhaps the only white crystal that has ever been found and that too in Sardinia. "Some of the other rare minerals are also only known from a thimbleful," he told Reuters.

Out over 5,000 minerals known across the world, less than 100 constitute 99% of Earth's crust. Some of these rare minerals that are defined in the study may even have commercial use from batteries to electronics, if they are processed, said the authors. For example, laser pointers needed rubies but now they are manufactured commercially. Even artificial diamonds are being used widely, reported NewsOK

The authors of the study pointed out that some of the minerals need exact temperatures for their cultivation and others can be formed only with rare elements. There are also others that dissolve easily or can only be found in locations such as volcanoes. "They form in a perfect storm of conditions," Jesse Ausubel, co-author at the Rockefeller University, told Reuters.

They said that as many as 1,500 types of mineral can still be discovered on Earth. "There are some master jewelers who would love to work with the rare minerals tiara of the 21st century," he said, reports Phys.org