The mysterious metal monolith found in a Utah desert has now disappeared

US Officials say a mysterious metallic monolith that was accidentally found during a drone survey of a remote stretch of the Red Rock desert in Utah, a region normally inaccessible to human beings, has now disappeared.

Dubbing the item “private property” the Bureau of Land Management in Utah said it had received “credible reports’ that an unknown party removed the object on Friday evening, adding that the bureau itself did not remove it as it is “considered private property”.

"We do not investigate crimes involving private property which are handled by the local sheriff's office,” AFP quoted the bureau as saying.

The triangular pillar, some 12-feet tall, was spotted on November 18 by officials who were counting the number of bighorn sheep in the area by drone. Utah officials then landed a helicopter on the location and found a “metal monolith installed in the ground” with “no obvious indication of who might have put the monolith there”.

When photos of the object were shared, many were quick to point out its resemblance to the monolith seen in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which ends up granting humanity the knowledge necessary to build civilisation.

One user pointed out that the monolith resembles the work of the late artist John McCracken.