What is the rarest mineral on Earth?

[admin]

There is only one specimen of the rarest mineral on Earth, and it's from Myanmar.

What is the rarest mineral on Earth? : Read more

 

[Alenivs]

Interesting article! I would just be careful in several places. For example the definition of a mineral given "minerals are naturally occurring elements or compounds that are inorganic, meaning they do not contain carbon" excludes carbonates - after silicates the most important building blocks of rocks. Also the issue is not really in bonding between Zr and B but the borate anion and Zr, a puzzling point indeed...

 

[Crocoite]

Not just carbonates. Diamond, graphite, etc are just carbon. There are nearly 500 valid mineral species containing essential carbon. There are nearly 100 excluding carbonates!

Also, painite is not the only mineral with boron and zirconium. There are two others, also very rare: bobtraillite and rogermitchellite, both only found at Mont Saint Hilaire, Canada.