A photo from open sources
Domestic geologists found near the Yakut village Batagay is a unique mineral that has not been fixed anywhere else on The earth. Like an alien.
Specialists of St. Petersburg State University they gave him the name batagait in honor of the place of discovery. Of analogs this crystal from the phosphate group most likely does not exist in nature, not even in laboratories where scientists are constantly trying get new chemical compounds.
Professor of St. Petersburg State University Sergey Krivovichev says that so far The practical value of batagaite is unknown. First, all qualities and features of new minerals, as a rule, open only later some time after their discovery. Secondly, the substance was found in a very small number, and Russian experts intend to now synthesize it in the lab to get more batagaita and study it with all care. However, Sergey Vladimirovich notes that other minerals, say, copper, are often have useful magnetic properties, which are widely application in some areas.
A mysterious mineral or stone from another planet?
It is reported that batagait was found in the vicinity of Mount Kester. In the 30s of the last century there was a tin mine, where prisoners worked. When the camp was abolished and development in it has ceased, scientists are interested in the contents of the mine. Not it is possible that Soviet experts came across the same crystals in the 80s, but did not even know what they have a business. Modern science will allow Russian scientists to decipher the complex structure of a unique substance and, possibly, in the future determine its beneficial properties, that is, how it is able to facilitate life to humanity.
Batagait has an unusual crystalline structure, consisting of two different modules. It has a hardness close to marble and contains manganese, zinc, silicon, copper, phosphorus, and a number of other chemical elements. The mineral is almost colorless, with a faint pale blue tint. Just a stone on the other planets …
Stones of Yakutia
