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Kernowite (green color). This new mineral was discovered after scientists looked again at a rock sample mined 220 years ago (Credit: The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London).
A new type of mineral has been discovered in a rock sample mined 220 years ago in Cornwall. The emerald green ‘Kernowite’– named after the Cornish word for Cornwall, Kernow – was discovered by scientists at the Natural History Museum in London. The rock sample containing Kernowite had been in the museum’s collection since 1964 but had been labelled as a loroconite mineral – a bright blue mineral also found in Cornwall. However, the sample’s dark green colour raised questions for the museum’s researchers. On closer inspection they found the mineral sample contained higher levels of iron than loroconite, allowing it to be redefined as a new species of mineral. “It is a new species which means that it is got a chemistry and a structure unlike anything else that we have found before,” said Mike Rumsey, principal curator of minerals at the Natural History Museum. Only around 100 new species of minerals are discovered each year. To find a new mineral in the UK, which has been subjected to extensive geological research, is “amazing”, he said. The discovery demonstrates the value of the Museum’s extensive collection, which include about 185,000 mineral specimens. “The fact that this rock can be around for 220 years sitting quietly in our museum, waiting for us to do some extra work on it, shows the importance of preserving things and looking after them for the future,” Mr Rumsey said. The sample was mined from Wheal Gorland in Cornwall, where most of the world’s loroconite is also found. The mine which closed in 1909 and has since been demolished, all but extinguishing hopes fresh samples can be gathered from underground. Mr Rumsey said the best hope of finding more Kernowite is to examine loroconite collections in other museums around the country. Early investigations suggest it will prove extremely rare, with just one other sample identified to date. “I think there’s probably not going to be very much of it,” Mr Rumsey said. The new description has now been approved by the International Mineralogical Association. The Kernowite sample will go on display to the public in the Natural History Museum’s mineral gallery once Mr Rumsey and his colleagues have concluded their research. The description of kernowite will be published in the Mineralogical Magazine in 2021.
This article originally appeared in Science News of December 24, 2020.
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