A new mineral with the chemistry of kryptonite, the only substance that can sap Superman's strength, has been discovered.

Scientists at the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London have helped to analyse a strange material found in a mine in Serbia.

Unlike the green crystals of its mythical counterpart, the real kryptonite is white, powdery and not radioactive.

And, of course, it is not from Superman's birth planet Krypton in outer space.

Geologists from the mining group Rio Tinto, which discovered the new mineral in the Balkan state, found it did not match any properties known to science.

They called in the help of Dr Chris Stanley at the NHM, who pinpointed its chemical formula as sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide.

"Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the formula," Dr Stanley said. "And I was amazed to discover that same scientific name written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns."

"The new mineral does not contain fluorine and is white rather than green, but in all other respects the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite.

"We will have to be careful with it - we wouldn't want to deprive Earth of its most famous superhero!"

The mineral could be used as a source of lithium for batteries, or to produce borate for the cleaning agent borax.

But under international naming conventions, the substance cannot be called Kryptoniteas it has nothing to do with krypton - a real gas element in the Periodic Table.

Instead it will be named Jadarite - after Jadar, the location of Serbian mine - when it is described in the European Journal of Mineralogy later this year.

Although up to 40 new minerals are discovered every year, it is very unusual to find a new sample in such quantity.

New species are usually just a few microscopic grains, but the Serbian sample filled several bags.

Before it can be classified as new, a mineral's chemical properties must be tested, including its crystal structure.

Because the crystals in the Serbian rock were too small to be tested through standard techniques, Dr Stanley used sophisticated technology at the National Research Council (NRC) in Canada.

Through its crystal structure, scientists can also find out how a mineral reacts to temperature and how elastic it is.

"Being able to analyse all the properties of a mineral, both chemical and physical, brings us closer to confirming that it is indeed unique," said the NRC crystal expert Yvon Le Page.

"Finding out that the chemical composition of a material is an exact match to an invented formula for the fictitious kryptonite, was the coincidence of a lifetime."

  • The new mineral will be shown to the public at the NHM's free Nature Live events on Wednesday 25 April at 12.30pm and Sunday 13 May at 12.30pm and 2.30pm.