The World's Rarest Mineral Is So Rare It's Only Ever Been Found Once
The World's Rarest Mineral Is So Rare It's Only Ever Been Found Once
There's a mineral so rare that only one specimen of it has ever been found in the entire world.
"It's called kyawthuite (cha-too-ite), a tiny, tawny-hued grain weighing just a third of a gram (1.61 carats). On first glance, you might mistaken it for amber or topaz; but the unassuming mineral speck has value beyond measure."
Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Laboratory in Bangkok, Thailand
These gemologists seem graphologically confused
Anything else good at the natural history museum in LA?
Yeah, it's pretty nice actually. Cool gardens, gem room, lots of dino and evolution stuff.. Not as big as the AMNH in Manhattan, but they did a good job with their smaller space.
So this mineral was found in the Mogok region of Myanmar, and the second rarest mineral, painite, was also found in the Mogok region of Myanmar. It sounds like there's something funky going on there geologically speaking, and it's probably not a coincidence that the country had been mostly closed off from the rest of the world for decades.
They have vibranium. Just saying.
Myanmar does have a good quantity of mineral and gemological resources, it wouldn't surprise me if there were even more unique properties there.
"This is the rarest mineral in the world. Let's cut off bits to make facets."
People are so fucking weird.
Imagine reading the article. I did, and I can tell you that nobody who did would make this comment.
You caught me. I'm a terrible lying liar who only says things like this to impress people on the internet by making them think I did something stupid instead of something else stupid. It's all part of my fiendish plan to make people think I'm an idiot. You found me out. Curses!
He didn't know until after it was faceted...
"thought the raw gem was a mineral called scheelite. After he faceted the stone, though, he realized that he was looking at something unusual."
another way to rip off the rich I assume?
If someone starts with $50 billion, and goes down to a mere $35 billion, can you say they were 'ripped off?'
I think rich people can get ripped off but I also can't argue that $35B isn't still insanely rich.
I found one in yo momma last night.
Probably a jolly rancher
Oh nooooo
No this is a different speck
Surly we can just manufacture it with some fancy tech now?
FTA:
"mineralogists were able to relate the stone to synthetic BiSbO4 – bismuth antimonate – though with the formula Bi3+Sb5+O4, an arrangement never before found in nature."
So we've already KINDA done it, just with less Bi+Sb.
It's the only known natural occurrence of a mineral that (as it happens) has also been synthesized. Many minerals are available as exact synthetics. Diamond is an example.
It seems like we don't know how it was made in nature, so probably not. We can't replicate the process until we figure out what it is
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