Only one of the world's rarest gemstones exists on earth
Many gemstones such as diamonds, rubies, and sapphires are naturally crystallized ores of substances such as carbon and aluminum oxide. The value of a gemstone is determined not only by the beauty of the gemstone itself, but also by the rarity of the natural crystal. It is said that only one of the world's rarest gemstones exists in this world.
What is the rarest mineral on Earth? | Live Science
The rarest gemstone on earth is a gemstone calledKyawthuite . Kyawthuite is a natural crystal of the substance bismuth antimonate (Bi 3+ Sb 5+ O 4 ), which was excavated in the Mogok region of Myanmar. The name Kyawthuite comes from Kyaw Thu, a Myanmar mineralogist.
The only Kyawthuite in existence weighs just 1.61 carats and has a reddish-orange color. It was certified by the International Mineralogical Association in 2015, and at the time of writing, it is in the collection of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, USA. Of course, there is no price tag because it is a one-of-a-kind gemstone and is not available on the market.
The next rarest gemstone after Kyawthuite is called 'Painite'. Painite was discovered in Myanmar in the 1950s by British mineralogist and jeweler Arthur Payne. Painite's name comes from its discoverer, Pain.
Pianite rough stone is a hexagonal prism-shaped crystal, and the color of the gemstone is deep red, similar to ruby. Until 2004, there were only two gems cut from rough stones in the world.
In a paper published in 2018, a research team led by Professor George Rothman of the California Institute of Technology performed spectroscopic analysis of painite using a laser, and found that the chemical composition of painite was CaZrAl 9 O 15 (BO 3 ), that is, calcium. It was discovered that it is a compound of zirconium, aluminum, boron, and oxygen, and also contains trace amounts of chromium and vanadium.
According to Professor Rothman, zirconium is extremely difficult to bond with boron, so it is quite rare for Painite to crystallize in nature. It was also discovered that Painite has a color similar to ruby due to the presence of chromium and vanadium.
Mr. Rothman apparently collected raw Painite stones from jewelers and ore researchers around the world in order to conduct his research, but it is extremely difficult to obtain rough stones that are of a quality that can actually be cut into gemstones, and each carat costs 60,000 yen. It is said to be worth about 7.8 million yen.
After that, Mr. Rothman's research revealed the details of Painite, and as gemstone mining became popular in Myanmar, Painite's rarity value has decreased slightly compared to before 2000. Furthermore, at the time of writing the article, Painite seems to be only found in Myanmar.
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