67 RAREST GEM

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TINY ONE-OF-A-KIND GEM IS THE WORLD'S RAREST MINERAL

Kyawthuite is a transparent reddish-orange mineral of which only a single, tiny sample exists – a 0.3-gram gem – making it the rarest mineral in the world, by far.

There are around 6,000 minerals listed by the International Mineralogical Association (IMA), and while many of them are classified as “rare,” none of them rivals kyawthuite in terms of rarity.

Named after Dr. Kyaw Thu, a Burmese gemologist, this incredibly rare mineral was discovered in the bed of a stream in Myanmar’s Mogok region by ruby hunters and recognized by the IMA in 2015. The only sample ever discovered weighs just 1.61 carats (0.3 grams) and is being kept by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

The chemical formula of kyawthuite is Bi³⁺Sb⁵⁺O₄, with traces of tantalum. Interestingly, because bismuth is such a heavy element, the density of kyawthuite is more than eight times that of water, making it particularly heavy for its tiny size.

The discovery of the world’s rarest mineral was somewhat of a stroke of luck. The ruby hunters that found it did not realize what a treasure they had, so they put it up for sale at the market. But Dr. Kyaw Thu, who regularly visits Mogok township, aka Myanmar’s Ruby Land, noticed that there was something special about the tiny gem.

“From studying in the field and frequently buying stones from that market, I could tell that this stone was a little strange and I bought it,” Dr. Kyaw Thu said. “Then, when I reached Yangon, I examined it and determined that this was not like any other gem we had ever found.”

Dr. Kyaw Thu bought the world’s only known kyawthuite gem in 2010 and worked closely with experts from the United States and the IMA to have it recognized as a new mineral.

You are probably wondering what this tiny, one-of-a-kind gem costs, but that is pretty much impossible to answer since the only piece of kyawthuite in the world is not for sale. At the moment, it is priceless.

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