Earth Treasures: Painite Mineral

By Chisom Ibemere

Painite is a rare and valuable borate mineral which was first discovered in 1950 by gem dealer and mineralogist Arthur Charles Davy Pain in Myanmar.

The mineral was officially recognized in 2005 by the International Mineralogical Association.

The chemical makeup of painite contains calcium, zirconium, boron, aluminium, and oxygen with chromium and vanadium as trace minerals which are responsible for Painite’s typically orange-red to brownish-red colour, similar to topaz.

The mineral’s rarity is due to zirconium and boron rarely interacting with each other in nature.

PAINITE are primarily stored in museums and private collections for research and display purposes. They are identified by their distinctive reddish-brown colour and a hexagonal crystal system. It has a Mohs hardness of 8-8.5, making it quite hard. The mineral contains calcium, zirconium, and boron in its chemical composition.

Until 2001, only three painite crystals were known to exist. Since then, additional discoveries have produced many more specimens of this deep red gemstone, but facetable material remains very rare.

Painite is considered the rarest gem mineral in the world. The discovery of each additional specimen is a major event in the mineral collecting community.

Its extreme rarity and scientific importance make painite incredibly valuable, though its lack of practical applications limits its global commercial value.

Painite, generally, is a highly prized and scientifically significant mineral due to its extreme rarity, with only a handful of samples known to exist globally. Its primary value lies in the fascination and prestige associated with this mineralogical curiosity.