Nalco 8177 -

It turned up six months later in a , about to be melted down. A scrap dealer noticed its unusual clarity and contacted a geology professor at IISc. The thief? A contract electrician who thought it was “just a big piece of plastic or glass” and sold it for ₹500.

Recovery teams collected 98% of the mass, but the crystal was irreparably destroyed. No single piece larger than a thumbnail remained intact. nalco 8177

When rescue workers reached the debris, they found the container . NALCO 8177 had broken into hundreds of jagged fragments , scattered across the gravel and twisted metal. It turned up six months later in a , about to be melted down

The sample was loaned to the in 2001. Its X-ray diffraction pattern became the new ICDD standard reference (PDF #00-033-0018, annotated “NALCO 8177 origin”), replacing all previous powdered gibbsite standards. Theft, Recovery, and Folklore (2005–2008) In 2005, NALCO 8177 vanished from its locked glass case. The plant went into lockdown. India’s Central Bureau of Investigation got involved, suspecting industrial espionage—rival aluminium companies or even a nation-state wanting to reverse-engineer the growth conditions. A contract electrician who thought it was “just