Rare mineral found in underground river

Philippine Daily Inquirer

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On top of its selection to the New 7 Wonders of Nature, the Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) has earned a bonus with the discovery of an extremely rare cave mineral—serrabrancaite.

Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward S. Hagedorn said the mineral was found by explorers earlier this year from the underground river’s Australian inlet and brought to the University of Bologna and the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, both in Italy, for mineralogical analyses that led to the discovery of a completely new cave mineral, the serrabrancaite, a manganese phosphate.

Collective triumph

The mayor had said the believes the victory of PPUR shows to all that “this nation can unite to promote its best interest, and winning in the N7WN is a collective triumph led by no less than President Aquino and supported by millions of citizens who heeded our call to vote via text messages and online.”

Hagedorn said that while variscite is a well known cave mineral, serrabrancaite was never found before in caves and is extremely rare elsewhere. He added that 11 minerals have been found in PPUR, beating other caves worldwide for sheer wealth of minerals. Serabrancaite was only found once, in the pegmatities of Sierra Branca, Brazil, but its genesis is different from that of PPUR’s.

“PPUR is really blessed with nature’s bounty and worthy to have been part of making history,” Hagedorn said.

Most interesting cave

Geologist Pasolo Forti underscored the uniqueness of PPUR. He said it is the most interesting cave in the world from the point of view of geology and archaeology since it is also home to a 20-million-year-old fossil of a sea cow, or dugong, embedded on the limestone wall.

Hagedorn said that PPUR’s victory was the product of collective effort and he expressed gratitude to the members of the PPUR Task Force headed by Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo as chair, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez, vice-chair, and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje (national campaign manager), and “the entire Filipino people for their whole-hearted support to win a place in the N7WN.”

Robredo took note of the mayor’s support to PPUR. “It is Filipino unity and patriotism at its best. It is not just the pride and joy of the people of Palawan but of the entire country as well,” he said.

Hagedorn also expressed gratitude to President Aquino for being the No. 1 supporter of PPUR.

“But above all, we thank God for making the Philippines naturally beautiful. Yes, our country is an incredibly beautiful country and the PPUR is just one of her many natural wonders. We don’t have to look hard to find at least one natural wonder in each of the country’s region or province. And we in Puerto Princesa City will be more than ready and willing to support these natural wonders. That’s the least we can do considering the outpouring of support we got nationwide.” Hagedorn concluded.