An element of unknown in our mic malfunctioning (9)

I believe the answer is:

zirconium

'an element' is the definition.
(zirconium is a kind of element)

'unknown in our mic malfunctioning' is the wordplay.
'unknown' becomes 'z' (represents an unknown value in algebra).
'malfunctioning' indicates anagramming the letters.
'in'+'our'+'mic'='inourmic'
'inourmic' with letters rearranged gives 'irconium'.
'z'+'irconium'='ZIRCONIUM'

'of' is the link.

(Another definition for zirconium that I've seen is " Chemical element Zr".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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