Latitude: 40°39'57"N
Longitude: 74°8'21"W
It is important to remember that synthetic diaoyudaoite is an industrial compound and the occurrence in mud where ship ballast or industrial raw materials may have been inadvertently dumped has led to a widespread suspicion that this diaoyudaoite is not a natural material.
Josef Vajdak (Pequa Rare Minerals) provided the following valuable observations regarding the find of this material.
"This extremely unusual find resulted from a local collector picking up a glistening white chunk of apparent calcite cleavage masses at the construction site of a shopping mall, Port Elizabeth, Union Co., New Jersey. Upon analysis, the material was found to be [equivalent to] Diaoyudaoite. Research by the finder indicated that the material was dredged up from the Port Elizabeth channel deepening project, Elizabeth, Union Co., NJ; however, further investigation by Chet Lemanski with knowledgeable authorities connected with the project revealed that the material used for the fill at the shopping center was actually dredged from the Newark Bay-Port Newark channel area, Newark, Essex Co. A check at the Port Elizabeth shopping mall, now complete, revealed that all fill material was completely covered over. Dredge spoils from the Port Elizabeth channel deepening project were pumped ashore at another shopping mall & golf course at Bayonne, NJ. A field trip to that site was unsuccessful in locating any further diaoyudaoite whatever, only Manhattan schist (muscovite).
NOTE: There is a possibility that the material was dumped into the bay, although the dredging was a deepening project into bottom sediments, or that there was possibly some other source of some fill.
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