Harvard-Smithsonian Trip Discovers Two Rare Minerals

Two new and rare minerals, auto-fagastite and bandylite, were discovered by a joint expedition of Harvard and Smithsonian Institution geologists and have just been added to the list of about 1200 rock components, it was announced here.

Lichen-like greenish crusts on rocks brought back from the district of Autofagasta, Chile, by Mark C. Baudy, leader of the expedition, were found to be copper chloride, a common substance in chemical laboratories, but never before found in nature.

Minute blue crystals, composed of boron, chlorine, and copper, never before discovered anywhere, have been named, bandylite, in honor of their discoverer.

Both of these minerals occur near the surface in what miners call the exidized zone.