Mineral Wild — Compliance FAQ & Reporting

Audience: Public-facing notice-and-action page for users who encounter a compliance advisory or want to report a violation. Linked from Terms of Service §20 (Entire Agreement) as informational supporting documentation.

DSA Article 16 / Apple Guideline 1.2 / UK Online Safety Act: This page is the platform's notice-and-action mechanism with publicly-disclosed SLA (see §3) and data-subject access references (see §5).

1. Why do I see a warning when I try to mark certain specimens as "Spare"?

Some minerals are subject to legal restrictions, sanctions, country-of-origin export controls, or safety advisories and are therefore either blocked outright or flagged with an advisory when you attempt to mark them "Spare". This keeps the platform compliant and helps you identify potential legal or safety issues before shipping. The check matches on the mineral you selected from our atlas and on the origin you recorded — if you entered the specimen under a custom mineral name of your own, mineral-specific rules do not apply to it. Rules that apply to a whole country of origin, rather than to a particular mineral, still apply to it.

Hard block (cannot mark as "Spare"):

• Chrysotile — EPA TSCA Part 1 rule
• Crocidolite, amosite — commercial-asbestos block
• Myanmar-origin jadeite, ruby, sapphire, spinel, maw-sit-sit — product policy; jade and gem mining permits and sales are managed by Myanma Gems Enterprise, which is on the U.S. OFAC sanctions list
• Myanmar-origin amber — separate product policy based on human-rights risks associated with mining; this rule does not rely on Myanma Gems Enterprise or an OFAC goods restriction
• Russian diamond — EO 14068
• Russian-origin native gold — EO 14068 import restriction
• Iranian minerals — OFAC comprehensive embargo

Advisory (marking as "Spare" succeeds; a dismissible notice is shown):

For each asbestos-related advisory below (from anthophyllite / tremolite / actinolite through Serpentine), a checkbox confirms that you have read the asbestos classification note before the acknowledge button becomes active; it does not gate the listing.

• Anthophyllite, tremolite, actinolite — EPA final Risk Evaluation Part 2
• Unspecified amphibole — some amphibole minerals can occur in asbestiform habits; the general atlas entry does not assert that a particular specimen is asbestos
• Riebeckite, grunerite, cummingtonite — under U.S. asbestos definitions, the asbestiform habit of riebeckite is crocidolite and the asbestiform habit of cummingtonite-grunerite is amosite. Because the App cannot determine a specimen's habit, marking the specimen "Spare" triggers an advisory rather than the crocidolite / amosite hard block; return an asbestiform specimen to "Keeping"
• Ferro-actinolite, ferro-anthophyllite, fluoro-edenite — specific asbestiform-habit classification advisory; verify the habit and avoid generating dust
• Magnesio-riebeckite, winchite, richterite — occurrence-specific advisory; EPA evaluates winchite and richterite only as constituents of Libby Amphibole Asbestos, so verify the provenance and habit
• Serpentine (any origin) — broad asbestiform-habit advisory; the family-level atlas entry does not assert that a particular specimen is chrysotile or asbestos
• Erionite-Ca, erionite-K, erionite-Na — IARC Group 1 carcinogen
• Unspecified zeolite — the zeolites include erionite, so the general atlas entry warns against cutting, grinding, or generating dust without asserting that a particular specimen is erionite
• Afghan lapis lazuli — Taliban SDN risk
• Peruvian-origin minerals — Ley 28296 cultural patrimony
• New Zealand-origin actinolite / tremolite / ferro-actinolite / amphibole / antigorite / lizardite / nephrite / bowenite / serpentine atlas entries — pounamu-screening advisory; the statutory definition is bowenite, nephrite (including semi-nephrite), and certain naturally occurring serpentine, so verify the specimen before export
• Myanmar-origin corundum — product-policy advisory because ruby and sapphire are corundum varieties; if the specimen is ruby or sapphire, return it to "Keeping"
• Myanmar-origin kosmochlor / omphacite / unspecified pyroxene — product-policy advisory because these entries can describe constituents of jadeite jade or maw-sit-sit; if the specimen is jadeite jade or maw-sit-sit, return it to "Keeping"
• Venezuelan-origin native gold — dealings involving the Government of Venezuela, entities it owns or controls, or other blocked persons remain prohibited unless exempt or authorized
• Radioactive minerals (radioactivity_level = high) — Class 7 excepted-package shipping advisory, typically UN 2910 for mineral specimens; USPS prohibits domestic air shipment and does not accept radioactive materials for mainland China; China's transport-safety definition separately turns on the specimen's activity and activity concentration relative to national exemption values
• Mercury minerals — USPS treats metallic mercury (UN 2809), including native mercury and specimens with visible droplets, as nonmailable; other mercury minerals may be regulated as hazardous materials
• Arsenic minerals — may qualify as Division 6.1 under 49 C.F.R. §§173.132–173.133; the Hazardous Materials Table lists arsenates and arsenic sulfides under UN 1557, alongside the handling advisory

Advisories acknowledge awareness only; they are not legal validation of your particular specimen or shipping plan. You remain responsible for compliance with all applicable laws (Terms of Service §6.4).

2. How do I report a violation?

Specimens, user profiles, and conversations each have a three-dot menu with a "Report" option, plus a free-text description field. For photos in the Mineral Atlas, signed-in users can use "Correct / Report" in the menu on the mineral's page. If you are browsing the atlas without an account, report by email (see below), including the mineral name and what you saw.

Every user-contributed photo in the Mineral Atlas is reviewed and approved by us before it appears.

Content types we prohibit and act on (our published enforcement taxonomy — how we classify violations, not the literal in-app picker):

• illegal_trade — suspected sale of prohibited material
• cites_violation — suspected CITES-protected material
• ofac_sanctions — suspected OFAC-sanctioned origin or party
• csam_suspected — child sexual abuse material (handled on emergency path)
• hate_speech — harassment, slurs, targeted abuse
• spam — repetitive / commercial / off-topic messaging
• other — anything else with a free-text explanation

In-app Report menu options (the exact choices vary slightly by what you are reporting — a conversation, a specimen, or a user profile): harassment, inappropriate content, minor safety (child-safety / CSAM intake), misinformation, scam or fraud, spam, and other — always with a free-text description. Reports of illegal trade, CITES, OFAC, or hate speech are filed under "other" (or the closest option) with a description and routed to the correct enforcement path on review.

You may also email mineralwild@gmail.com directly. Emergency CSAM reports can also be sent to NCMEC CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org.

Removing nonconsensual intimate imagery

If an intimate visual depiction of you — including one created or altered by digital means — was published on Mineral Wild without your consent, you or someone you authorize to act for you can ask us to take it down, whether or not you have an account with us. Email mineralwild@gmail.com. Putting "NCII removal request" in the subject line helps us route it faster, but we act on your request either way. Include:

• Your physical or electronic signature — typing your full name at the end of the email counts. If someone is sending this for you, they sign their own name and say who they are acting for;
• Enough information to identify the depiction and locate it on the Service (a share link, the username that posted it, or a screenshot showing where it appears);
• A brief statement that you have a good faith belief the depiction is not consensual; and
• Contact information sufficient for us to reach you.

Once we receive a request that includes the items above, we remove the depiction, and make reasonable efforts to identify and remove any known identical copies of it, as soon as possible and not later than 48 hours after receiving the request. Full terms: Terms of Service §3.8.

3. Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Per the EU Digital Services Act Article 16, Apple App Store Guideline 1.2, and the UK Online Safety Act, we review and action reports promptly and without undue delay, prioritizing the most severe reports first.

24-hour commitment. Where we determine that a report identifies (a) child sexual abuse material, (b) other content that endangers the safety of a minor, or (c) a credible threat of violence against a person, we remove the content from the App and suspend or terminate the responsible account within 24 hours of receiving the report through the App's report feature, or within 24 hours of identifying it where a report reaches us by email or another channel. Whether a report falls within those three cases depends on what the report describes, including its free-text description, and not on the report category the reporter selected. Where the law requires us to preserve material as evidence, we do so as described in the Terms of Service §4.1; preservation does not delay removal from the App.

48-hour commitment (nonconsensual intimate imagery). Where we receive a removal request that includes the items listed in Terms of Service §3.8, from the person depicted or someone they authorize, we remove the depiction, and make reasonable efforts to identify and remove any known identical copies of it, as soon as possible and not later than 48 hours after receiving the request. Where the same content also falls within (a) or (b) above — for example, where the person depicted is a minor — both commitments apply and we act on whichever is sooner.

All other reports. Every report not covered by a commitment above is handled promptly and without undue delay, prioritized by severity. As a small team we do not commit to fixed hour-by-hour deadlines for these; the DSA does not require specific timeframes.

Audit log retention: Moderation decisions and takedown actions, and reports filed through the in-app "Report" option (including the reporter's description), are retained for up to 2 years. See the Moderation records row in Privacy Policy §8.1.

4. Appeal Process

If your listing was blocked or you received a strike and you believe the action was in error, email mineralwild@gmail.com with:

• Your username and a share link to the affected specimen (open the specimen, tap Share Link, and paste the link — it identifies the specimen precisely)
• A brief explanation of why you believe the action was incorrect
• Any supporting documentation (e.g., proof of origin, pre-2018 acquisition date for restricted material)

We will respond promptly and without undue delay. Our response will either (a) reverse the decision with a note in the audit log, or (b) explain in plain language why the decision stands and what alternatives you have.

During the appeal window, your account is not further penalized unless a new violation occurs.

5. Data-Subject Access Requests (DSAR)

For most data-subject requests, you can self-serve through the app:

• Your data: Settings → Account → Download My Data (ZIP archive, email delivery within ~30 minutes, link valid for 7 days)
• Delete your account: Settings → Delete Account (30-day grace period; if your account remains eligible to sign in, you can cancel in the App)

If you cannot sign in or reach the deletion controls because of an age-eligibility checkpoint, suspension, ban, or inactive status, contact mineralwild@gmail.com. For a support-assisted formal account-deletion request or cancellation, we send a confirmation to the exact verified email address stored on the account and must receive an explicit reply from that address in the same email thread. If that account email is unavailable or undeliverable, support cannot make the change through this route; provider screenshots, login-history evidence, or an authorized-agent document do not replace the account-email reply. Where applicable law requires us to act on a verified request through another route, we will use the verification method that law requires. This deletion-only process does not remove any suspension, ban, inactive status, or other access restriction. Accounts known to be operated by a person under 18 follow the separate minor-account deletion process and cannot cancel through the 30-day grace path.

For anything not covered by self-service (e.g., bulk export across multiple accounts you believe are yours, deletion beyond the 30-day grace window, access by a verified authorized agent, deceased-user requests), email mineralwild@gmail.com with:

• Your username and email on file
• The specific right you're exercising (Access / Correction / Deletion / Portability / Objection)
• Verification information as needed

Response timing depends on the applicable law. EU requests generally run for one calendar month from receipt; identity-related timing follows the applicable EU rule and is not automatically reset by a generic verification date. UK requests generally run from receipt, or from receipt of sufficient identity / authority information where that information was reasonably requested. Complex or multiple EU / UK requests may be extended by two further calendar months, with the extension and reasons communicated within the initial month. Swiss FADP access requests are generally answered within 30 days; if more time is needed, we will explain why and give the expected response date within those 30 days. CCPA requests generally use a 45-day window, and PIPL requests a 15-business-day window.