While nature exerts precise control over the size and chemical composition of minerals, this is still a challenging task for artificial syntheses. Despite its significance, until now, there are still no reports on colloidal mineral nanoparticles in the subnanometer range. Here we developed a general gas diffusion strategy using 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid as a ligand and ethanol as a solvent to fabricate stable amorphous mineral clusters with a core size of less than 2 nm. First discovered for CaCO 3 , the method was successfully extended to produce monolayer protected clusters of MgCO 3 , SrCO 3 , Eu 2 (CO 3 ) 3 , Tb 2 (CO 3 ) 3 , Ce 2 (CO 3 ) 3 , Ca x (PO 4 ) y , CaC 2 O 4 and their hybrid minerals, Ca x Mg y (CO 3 ) z and Ca x (CO 3 ) y (PO 4 ) z . All the mineral clusters can be well dispersed in organic solvents like toluene, and are stable for a long period without further crystallization. Our work paves a way for the artificial synthesis of colloidal mineral clusters, which may have various uses in both fundamental research and industry. ; published