What is the rarest stone on Earth?

Determining the rarest gemstone in the world is not so easy because people are more concerned about the most expensive stone in the world than the rarest one. Conversations about the blue diamond are all over the Internet, but there is virtually no mention of the rarest stone itself. Red and blue diamonds are extremely rare, but everyone is familiar with them. But everyone is not familiar with other rare gems, and this is where things get really interesting. It’s quite possible that you haven’t even heard of the world’s rarest gemstone. In this article, you’ll learn everything there is to know about the world’s rarest gemstone and mineral, but first, a quick lesson on the differences between a gemstone, a mineral, a crystal, and a stone.

What is the difference between a gemstone, a mineral, a crystal and a stone?

Few people know the answer to this question, and it is important to understand it when talking about precious stones.

Stones or rocks

• Ignesian rocks are formed by the solidification of magma erupted by volcanoes.
• Sedimentary rocks are formed by the settling of sedimentary rocks such as sand, gravel or clay.
• Metamorphic rocks are formed by the growth of minerals within the rock under pressure or temperature.

Crystals

These are minerals that are not found in aggregated solids such as rocks or stones. Structured lattices are used to obtain crystals. The result is an inorganic geometric structure. Crystals have an ordered structure. The atoms are at very precise distances and at very precise angles to each other to form a crystal. Examples of crystals are amethyst, rock crystal, citrine and ruby.

Minerals

They are all crystals. Each mineral has its own chemical composition and crystal structure. To obtain a mineral, only one inorganic substance is required. Natural elements or compounds form a mineral. Numerous properties help in the creation of the mineral. Below are some of the main components:

• Color: strength and brightness of color.
• Luster: the ability of a mineral to shimmer in the light. Metallic or non-metallic.
• Hardness: The ease with which a mineral can be scratched.
• Density: The mass of a mineral per unit volume. Different minerals have slightly different densities due to differences in chemical composition.
• Streak Color: The color left after a mineral has scratched the surface of an unglazed porcelain plate.
• Solubility: Whether or not a mineral dissolves in water.
• Magnetism: Does the mineral have magnetic properties?
• Optical properties: Some minerals exhibit double refraction or fluorescence.
• Banding: Bands or parallel lines on a mineral that are visible under a microscope.
• Cleavage and fracture plane: Cleavage is where and how a mineral breaks along a flat surface, while fracture is where it breaks along an uneven surface.
• Opacity is the degree to which light passes through a mineral.
• Crystal Shape: The outer shape of a mineral’s crystals.

Value

Gemstones are always of mineral origin and become gems or precious stones by grinding and polishing to achieve beauty. Gemstones are formed from several minerals, but minerals are formed from only one substance. There are more than 2 minerals known in the world, but only 000 of them are precious stones. Not all minerals contain the components necessary to create a good gemstone. Gems are graded according to the following categories:

• Beauty: Color, purity and refraction of light.
• Resistance: hardness, crackability, chemical resistance.
• Rarity: How often this stone occurs in nature.

What is kiavtuit?

There is currently only one small example of the intriguing 1,61-carat kyawtuite in existence. This gemstone is a polished mineral from Myanmar. Sapphire hunters found this rather fragile, transparent reddish-orange mineral in a stream bed.

How was kiavtuit formed?

Myanmar is no stranger to minerals and gemstones. Over the years, many gemstones have been mined in Myanmar, such as the former world’s rarest mineral and gemstone, painite. Geologists explain this phenomenon by the pressure and heat that arose during the collision of India with Asia about 40-50 million years ago. The exact scientific composition of kiawtuit is available to those who possess it. Apart from the information given here, very little is known about kiavtuite.

In what year was kiavtuite discovered?

In 2015, the International Mineralogical Association officially recognized orange as the rarest mineral in the world. In 2023, it is still the rarest mineral and gemstone.

Where does kiawtuit come from?

The only known example of kyawthuite comes from the Mogok region of Myanmar, located in southeast Asia. For the first time, the tiny gem was noticed among the silt and sediment of the stream, which was pretty battered by the water. There is very little information about the mineral, since only one small specimen exists.

Myahmar has established itself as one of the mineral and gem capitals of the world. Gems from this area include Burmese rubies, amber, diamonds, jade, sapphires, spinel, garnet, topaz, amethyst, peridot, and moonstone. Rubies and sapphires have been mined in the Shan Highlands since pre-colonial times. Jade is found in the northern mountains.

Rare gems:

The competition for the world’s rarest gem includes a number of other rare minerals, and Myanmar is a hotspot for their mining. Following the world’s rarest gemstone, kiawthuite, is the previous winner of the world’s rarest gemstone and mineral, painite.

For 50 years, this mineral was the rarest in the world. But everything changed after a deposit of gem-quality painite was discovered in Myanmar in the early 2000s. When this mineral was discovered in the 1950s, it was initially classified as a type of zircon. Later it turned out that it consists of calcium and aluminum hydroxide and, obviously, is not zircon. Painite is named after the British mineralogist and gemologist Arthur C.D. Pain, who discovered it in the 1950s. It is still very rare and expensive.

Location: Argyle Mine in Western Australia

Using extreme heat, nitrogen and pressure, these rare diamonds were created. As with the blue diamond, the first red diamond was discovered in Tanzania in 1954. Nitrogen is responsible for the depth of red color in the stone.

Location: Cullinan Mine in South Africa

The blue diamond is the gemstone whose price will be at its highest in 2023. The blue color of a diamond is given by boron impurities. The more boron impurities, the deeper the blue hue the mineral acquires.

Location: Brazil, Sri Lanka, Tanzania

The first alexandrite was found in the Urals in Russia. The name of the stone comes from the name of the reigning monarch at that time – Tsar Alexander II. In natural light the stone appears green, and in artificial light it appears purple or red. The color change is due to its optical and chemical properties.

Location: Utah, New Mexico and Colorado in the USA.

Red beryl was first discovered by Maynard Bixby in 1904 in the Thomas Mountains of Utah. This rare stone was first discovered in rhyolites, pegmatites and even some forms of lava formed during the Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary periods. Its bright red color is due to the presence of traces of manganese in the mineral.

Conclusion

It is unlikely that any other gemstone will soon replace Kiawtuit as the world’s rarest stone. Since Kyawthuite weighs only 1,61 carats, it’s safe to say that it couldn’t be any rarer. There is always the possibility that someone will discover another beautiful mineral, and after testing, sorting and polishing it, one day it will become the next rarest gemstone. It will be difficult to beat the breathtaking beauty of the current contenders.

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The most expensive stones in the world.

In the modern world, approximately 200 varieties of natural precious stones are known. Along with popular gemstones such as diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald, there are many semi-precious stones, some of which are so incredibly rare that their value exceeds many of the most valuable gemstones in the world.

1. Tanzanite

Tanzanite – found only in Tanzania.

Tanzania
Tanzanite is a beautiful blue variety of the mineral zoisite, and is so named because it can only be found in a small area at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The stone was not discovered in commercial quantities until the 1960s, and since then its popularity has grown significantly, thanks in large part to the efforts of Tiffany & Co. By heat treating tanzanite at very high temperatures, its blue color may improve.

2. Black opal

Black opal – the darker the better.

Australia
Opals are typically creamy white in color and have iridescent inclusions that reflect light when the stone is moved. Black opals are much rarer because almost all of them are found in mines in Lightning Ridge, Australia. The darker their color and brighter the inclusions, the more valuable the stone. One of the most valuable black opals of all time is Aurora Australis, which sold in 2005 for $763.

3. Larimar

Larimar – found only in the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic
Larimar is a very rare blue variety of the mineral pectolite that is found only in one small area of ​​the Dominican Republic. Local residents had known about the stone’s existence for many generations as stones periodically washed up on the seashore, but it was not until the 1970s that enough of them were found in the ground to open a mine.

4. Paraiba Tourmaline

Paraiba tourmaline – neon glitter.

Brazil
Tourmalines come in a variety of colors throughout Brazil, but Paraiba tourmaline is the only stone with a bright turquoise hue, thanks to its copper content. The very rare gem was discovered in 1987 by Heitor Dimas Barbosa, who was convinced that the Paraiba hills were hiding completely different gems (and he was right).

The peculiarity of this stone is that by transmitting light through itself, Paraiba tourmaline will create something like a neon glow. In 2003, very similar turquoise-colored tourmalines were discovered in mines in the mountains of Nigeria and Mozambique.

5. Grandidierite

Grandidierite is only one perfect stone.

Madagascar
Grandidierite was first described in 1902 by French mineralogist Alfred Lacroix, who found it in Madagascar and named it after French explorer Alfred Grandidiere. This extremely rare blue-green mineral has been discovered in a number of places around the world, but only Madagascar and Sri Lanka are known to have gem-quality stones. Most known stones are translucent, but the rarest, and therefore most valuable, stone that was found was transparent.

6. Alexandrite

Alexandrite is a color changing stone.

Russia
An amazing stone that can change its color was discovered in 1830 in the Urals in Russia and named after the Russian Tsar Alexander II. Alexandrite is a variety of chrysoberyl and appears blue-green in sunlight, but turns red-violet in incandescent light. The cost of this gem weighing up to 1 carat is $15, but a stone weighing more than one carat will cost $000 per carat.

7. Benitoite

Benitoite is the state stone of California.

USA
Benitoite is only mined in one small area of ​​California, near the San Benito River (hence the name), but the mine closed to commercial mining in 2006, making this gemstone even rarer. The gemstone was first discovered in 1907 by geologist George Lauderback. It has a deep blue color that shows particularly interesting qualities when exposed to UV light – the stone begins to glow with a fluorescent glow.

8. Painite

Painite is one of the rarest stones in the world.

Myanmar
Painite was first discovered by British mineralogist Arthur Charles Payne in 1951 and was recognized as a new mineral in 1957. For many years, only one example of the dark red crystal existed, which was kept in the British Museum in London, making it the rarest in the world a precious stone. Later, other samples were discovered, although before 2004 there were less than two dozen painites. In 2006, another deposit was discovered in Myanmar, where more than 1000 stones have already been mined, but they are of lower quality.

9. Red beryl

Red beryl is tiny and rare.

Mexico
Red beryl, also known as bixbite or red emerald, is so rare that the Utah Geological Survey says only one is mined for every 150 gem-quality diamonds. Pure beryl is colorless and acquires its shades only from impurities: chromium and vanadium give beryl a green color, forming an emerald; iron adds a blue or yellow tint, creating aquamarine and golden beryl, and manganese adds a deep red color, creating red beryl.

Red beryl is found only in the US states of Utah, New Mexico, and Mexico, but most of the stones found are only a few millimeters in length (ie, too small to be cut and faceted).

10. Taaffeit

Taaffeite – discovered by chance.

China
The Austrian-Irish mineralogist Earl Edward Charles Richard Taaffe bought a box of cut stones from a jeweler in Dublin in the 1940s, thinking he had acquired a collection of spinels. But upon closer inspection, he noticed that one of the pale lilac stones did not react to light in the same way as the rest of the spinels, so he sent it off for analysis. The results showed that the Count had discovered a previously unknown gem.

Over time, the source of taaffeite was found in Sri Lanka, although several stones were also found in Tanzania and China. There are believed to be fewer than 50 stones in existence, making it so rare that the average person is unlikely to ever come across it.

Especially for those who are not indifferent to expensive stones, we have collected 10 more amazing jewelry that will amaze with their beauty.