 "This is the rarest mineral in the world, so far no one has been able to estimate its value")
There are many elements or minerals in the world that are present in very small quantities or have little human access. There are some elements that are not found on earth at all. But there is also a rare mineral that has only been found once in Earth’s history and nowhere else. The situation is that even its price has not yet been estimated. Its name is Kyawthuite. Let’s know the story of Kyawthuite…
What does this mineral look like?
Kyawthuite is a mineral of only 1.61 carats, i.e. one-third of a gram. At first sight it looks like topaz. The stone was purchased in 2010 by gemologist Kwa Kyaw Thu from the Chong-gi market in Myanmar, thinking it was a rough gem called scheelite. But when they looked at the stone, they realized that it looked something unusual.
The truth came out in the lab
Unable to match the mineral to any known mineral, they sent it to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) lab in Bangkok, Thailand. There the mineralogist found the stone to belong to the synthetic BiSbO4 – bismuth antimonate, while its formula was one never seen before in nature.
Such a mineral has never been seen before
Kyaw Thu told The Myanmar Times in 2016 that it was the first such mineral in the world and had not been found in any other country. The stone seemed strange to Thu from the beginning. On reaching Yangon they examined it and found it was unlike any other gem. They didn’t know much about the stone itself, it had a strange orange color with redness and a white glow. But it was clear that it was naturally formed.
Geologists think the stone came from igneous rock and was part of a common volcanic rock called pegmatite. These stones are more common in the area where the stone was found. Like granite, pegmatite has a fruitcake-like texture with many different minerals, with large crystals common in pegmatite.
Traces of titanium, niobium, tungsten and uranium in Kyawthuite are consistent with pegmatite formation. Furthermore, laboratory experiments show that bismuth antimonite crystals form at high temperatures matching the temperature of cold magma. It is so rare that its value cannot yet be estimated. The second rarest gemstone in the world is a mineral called Panite and is priced at 42 to 50 lakh rupees per carat. The Kyawthuite fragment is currently preserved at the National Museum of History in Los Angeles County.