Rutheniridosmine

Description

Rutheniridosmine has a hardness of 6-7 and no specific gravity listed anywhere, but Osmium has a specific gravity of 22.48, Iridium has a specific gravity of 22.65 – 22.84, and Ruthenium has a specific gravity of around 12. Found in around 62 localities worldwide and only seven in California and one in Alaska, Rutheniridosmine hasn’t yet been found in Colorado, or in very many other places, so wherever you are, be sure to keep your eyes out for silver crystals like these while panning, especially if you’re near “placer deposits derived from ultrabasic rocks”!

Mindat includes that it’s not to be confused with Ruthenosmiridium, which is “a variety of iridium rich in ruthenium and osmium” as Rutheniridosmine, rather, was named to “reflect its composition, being comprised of RUTHENium, IRIDium, and OSMIum.” So, it’s not entirely clear exactly what the differences are, besides minor adjustments in the composition of the three metals… Additionally, Mindat states that “Rutheniridosmine was defined as a new species by the IMA-CNMMN-approved nomenclature of the natural alloys of Os-Ir-Ru (Harris & Cabri 1973). The natural occurrence of the mineral was confirmed in the same paper by Harris & Cabri (1973) from many Canadian localities, from Japan and from an unknown locality in New Guinea. The compositional field for rutheniridosmine was restricted by the revised nomenclature (Harris & Cabri 1991) to alloys in which Ir is the dominant element.”

According to Wikipedia, Rutheniridosmine is a naturally occurring mineral alloy of the elements ruthenium, iridium and osmium with the formula of (Ir,Os,Ru). Rutheniridosmine occurs as hexagonal, opaque, silver-white, metallic grains in association with sperrylite, hollingworthite, iridarsenite, ruthenarsenite, michenerite, laurite, geversite, moncheite, and chromite. Platinum, palladium, rhodium, iron, and nickel occur as impurities. Type localities include: the Ruby Creek, Spruce Creek, and Bullion mines of British Columbia, Canada and the Horokanai placer deposit, of Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaidō, Japan.”

According to WebMineral, Rutheniridosmine is comprised of roughly 63% Iridium, 31% Osmium, and 6% Ruthenium, and while you can get purified Iridium, Osmium, and Ruthenium from Luciteria and a few other websites, finding the natural presentation of these metals is comparably pretty difficult as it seems to be quite rare and hard to find! Each of the three metals are rare and expensive in their own right, and collectively, even more so!

Osmium is hard, and fragile, and isn’t used commercially for very many applications… yet. But, r/WallStreetOsmium took off after r/WallStreetBets took on GameStop, as it’s doing again right now, so if they’re right about Osmium, too, it may just be a good investment! Which, is quite likely, as Iridium is already 3x the price of Gold! And, Ruthenium is bound to catch up to its peers soon! Regardless, be sure to keep your eye out for this nondescript silvery-looking metal the next time you’re out on a hike or panning in a river!