this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2024
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"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."

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[–] FlyingSquid 88 points 2 months ago (2 children)

"This is the rarest mineral in the world. Let's cut off bits to make facets."

People are so fucking weird.

[–] jordanlund 149 points 2 months ago (2 children)

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."

[–] FlyingSquid 78 points 2 months ago (3 children)

This is what I get for only skimming the article.

[–] Lost_My_Mind 56 points 2 months ago (1 children)

And this is what I get for reading the comments. NOT having to read the article.

[–] FlyingSquid 19 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I was in on it early, so I have no excuse other than I need to read more carefully next time. Which I probably won't remember to do next time.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Can someone tldr the whole thing? I'm too lazy to read the title, comments or article.

(No please don't, I read it, I'm just here for cheap jokes and giggles)

[–] jordanlund 18 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Guy found an interesting rock in a gemstone market in Myanmar, thought it was one thing, made it pretty, found out not only was it something else, it was something never before seen in nature.

Naturally, now it lives in Los Angeles.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] Dozzi92 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

OP was too lazy to read your whole comment to know you were JK'g.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It seems. It's perfect 💕

[–] jordanlund 3 points 2 months ago

I thought the gag about Los Angeles being the home of all things not found previously in nature is as cheap as it gets. ;)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

tldr, there was a man from Nantucket...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

His junk was too big for a bucket...

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I only read the above comment up to 'tldr' and skimmed the rest so the tldr is that the world's rarest mineral is so rare that it's only ever been found once!

[–] Lost_My_Mind 3 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

It's all good, if you didn't get it wronf, none would have corrected you and 99/100 that didn't read the story wouldn't know. You provided us 35 seconds of insight second hand.

[–] essell 20 points 2 months ago

Well, when you need to be in every thread that's gotta limit your reading time

[–] affiliate 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

i hope you learned your lesson

[–] FlyingSquid 18 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] affiliate 6 points 2 months ago

yeah me too. i love skimming

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago
[–] Hugin 2 points 2 months ago

Like the guy who cut down the oldest know tree to find out how old it was. It wasn't known how old it was at the time. (They have found probably older but don't want to cut them down to find out.)

[–] iAvicenna 29 points 2 months ago (2 children)

another way to rip off the rich I assume?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If someone starts with $50 billion, and goes down to a mere $35 billion, can you say they were 'ripped off?'

[–] Burninator05 10 points 2 months ago

I think rich people can get ripped off but I also can't argue that $35B isn't still insanely rich.

[–] jordanlund 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It is kinda pretty, in a super 1974 kind of way I guess...

[–] No_Ones_Slick_Like_Gaston 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It was a different time back then.

[–] RizzRustbolt 9 points 2 months ago

Corinthean everything back then. Leather, columns, baby food... everything.

[–] nelly_man 17 points 2 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] MilitantAtheist 6 points 2 months ago

They have vibranium. Just saying.

[–] jordanlund 4 points 2 months ago

Myanmar does have a good quantity of mineral and gemological resources, it wouldn't surprise me if there were even more unique properties there.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Laboratory in Bangkok, Thailand

These gemologists seem graphologically confused

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Surly we can just manufacture it with some fancy tech now?

[–] jordanlund 24 points 2 months ago

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.

[–] Rapidcreek 19 points 2 months ago (6 children)

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.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] nutsack 2 points 2 months ago

you didn't read

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Anything else good at the natural history museum in LA?

[–] RubberElectrons 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

I found one in yo momma last night.

[–] GroundedGator 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

No this is a different speck