Kyawthuite is an extremely rare mineral with formula BiSbO4.Kampf, A.R., Rossman, G.R. and Ma, C. (2015) Kyawthuite, IMA 2015-078. CNMNC Newsletter No. 28, December 2015, 1863; Mineralogical Magazine 79, 1859–1864 It is a natural bismuth antimonate, in which bismuth has oxidation state +3, and antimony oxidation state +5.
The only known sample of kyawthuite is on display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Description Kyawthuite is monoclinic, with space group , and is isostructural with clinocervantite, its trivalent-antimony-analogue. Kyawthuite is an antimony-analogue of clinobisvanite.
Occurrence Kyawthuite was discovered in the vicinity of Mogok in Myanmar, an area famous for its variety of gemstone minerals, in 2010 and was subsequently identified as being a new specimen by Dr. Kyaw Thu. The International Mineralogical Association officially recognised kyawthuite as a new mineral in 2015.
Only one 0.3-gram sample of the naturally occurring form of this mineral is documented, and it is stored and on display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.Starr, Michelle, The World's Rarest Mineral Is So Rare It's Only Ever Been Found Once , Science Alert, November 29, 2024
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