[7] A geological expedition has identified the exact place of the original discovery and found more specimens of the Khatyrka meteorite.

Khatyrkite forms dendritic, rounded or irregular grains, typically below 0.5 millimeter in size, which are intergrown with cupalite.

[11] Khatyrkite and cupalite are accompanied by spinel, corundum, stishovite, augite, forsteritic olivine, diopsidic clinopyroxene and several Al-Cu-Fe metal alloy minerals.

Steinhardt initiated a large-scale search for natural quasicrystals around the year of 2000 using the database of the International Centre for Diffraction Data.

A sample of the mineral was provided by Luca Bindi of the Museo di Firenze and was later proven to be part of the Russian holotype specimen.

The quasicrystal grains were of high crystalline quality equal to that of the best laboratory specimens, as demonstrated by the narrow diffraction peaks.

The specific composition of the accompanying minerals and the location where the sample was collected—far from any industrial activities—confirm that the discovered quasicrystal is of natural origin.