Minerals are scattered all over the Earth. Among these, the rarest mineral recognized by scientists is kyawthuite. Mogok in Myanmar is currently the only place where this super rare mineral is found.
The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) mineral database contains a description of kyawthuite. It is a small dark orange gem measuring 1.61 karat (or weighing 0.3 grams).
Kyawthuite was officially recognized as a rare mineral by the International Mineralogical Association in 2015. It is currently kept and preserved in the Los Angeles Natural History Museum.
The chemical formula of kyawthuite is Bi3+Sb5+O4, with a trace of the element tantalum. Both bismuth (Bi) and antimony (Sb) are rare but not unusual metals.
According to scientists, the amount of bismuth in the Earth’s crust is greater than gold and antimony is also more than silver. Oxygen is the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. Therefore, the rarity of kyawthuite is related to the formation process and not due to a lack of constituents.
Bismuth is such a heavy element that kyawthuite’s density is eight times that of water and twice that of ruby - a gemstone that looks a bit like kyawthuite.
The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) mineral database describes the kyawthuite structure as consisting of parallel octahedral Sb5+O6 grids with Bi3+ atoms. This is currently the only bismuth-antimony oxide recognized by the scientific community.
The fact that kyawthuite is only found in Myanmar makes researchers think that it may be related to geological activity. According to them, when the ancient supercontinent Gondwana began to separate about 180 million years ago, India moved north and collided with what is now South Asia.
The pressure and heat from the collision formed countless minerals, including extremely rare minerals like kyawthuite. However, to prove this point, scientists will need to research and find authentic evidence.
