The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word IRIDIUM
I
R
I
D
I
U
M
More clues leading to the result IRIDIUM
- Irish speaker’s turn of phrase in heavy metal
- Metal I'd identified primarily pinched by one suspect
- “Heavy metal” in Irish parlance, say
- One crosses road regularly to get high class leading metal element
- 'Metallic element' in one red leader's local language, say
- One old dictator caught by strange element
- Heavy metal, one that’s strange, I had one inside
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "element" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case element = iridium.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does IRIDIUM mean?
IRIDIUM noun- A chemical element (symbol Ir) with an atomic number of 77: a very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group.
- A single atom of this element.