Osmium
Species
Very Rare · (Os,Ir,Ru)
Native osmium, the natural alloy of osmium with iridium and ruthenium in which osmium leads, in tiny hexagonal plates and prisms, often enclosed in platinum-iron alloy grains, from ultramafic rocks and the placers they shed. Smithson Tennant found the element in 1803 in the black residue left when crude platinum is dissolved, and named it for the pungent smell of its oxide.
Identity
- Formula
- (Os,Ir,Ru)
- Chemical class
- Native element
- Part of
- Osmiridium
- Also known as
- Native osmium
- Ore of
- Osmium
Crystallography
- Crystal system
- Hexagonal
- Habits
- Tabular, Prismatic, Granular
- Fracture
- Hackly
Physical properties
- Mohs hardness
- 6.5
- Density
- 22.5 g/cm³
- Luster
- Metallic
- Colors
- bluish white, silver gray
- Transparency
- Opaque
Geology
- Origins
- Igneous, Sedimentary
- Host rocks
- Ultramafic rock (peridotite, serpentinite), River gravels and sands
- Associated minerals
- Platinum, Iridium, Cooperite, Sperrylite, Chalcopyrite, Bornite
- Found in
- Placer deposit
- Geography
- Canada (Ruby Creek, Atlin, British Columbia), USA (Goodnews Bay, Alaska), Colombia (Río Pilpe), Russia (Urals; Kamchatka), Scotland (Unst, Shetland), South Africa (Witwatersrand)
Classification
- Rarity
- Very Rare
- Gem quality
- No
Sources
- M. Pasero and others, IMA Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification, The New IMA List of Minerals, updated September 2026. International Mineralogical Association (CNMNC), 2026.
- J. W. Anthony, R. A. Bideaux, K. W. Bladh, M. C. Nichols, Osmium. Mineral Data Publishing, Handbook of Mineralogy, 2001.
- Osmium. Wikipedia.
- Native Osmium: Mineral information, data and localities. mindat.org.
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