Laurite
| Laurite | |
|---|---|
| General | |
| Category | Sulfide mineral |
|
Formula (repeating unit) |
RuS2 |
| Strunz classification | 2.EB.05a |
| Crystal system | Cubic |
| Crystal class | Diploidal (m3) H-M symbol: (2/m 3) |
| Space group | Pa3 |
| Unit cell | a = 5.61 Å; Z = 4 |
| Identification | |
| Color | Iron-black; white to gray or bluish in polished section |
| Crystal habit | As octahedral, cubic, and pyritohedral crystals or as rounded grains and inclusions |
| Cleavage | Perfect on {111} |
| Fracture | Subconchoidal |
| Tenacity | Brittle |
| Mohs scale hardness | 7.5 |
| Luster | Metallic |
| Streak | Dark gray |
| Diaphaneity | Opaque |
| Specific gravity | 6.43 |
| Optical properties | Isotropic and opaque |
| References | |
Laurite is an opaque black, metallic ruthenium sulfide mineral with formula: RuS2. It crystallizes in the isometric system. It is in the pyrite structural group. Though rare, it occurs in many parts of the world.
Laurite has a Mohs hardness of 7.5 and a specific gravity of 6.43. It can contain osmium, rhodium, iridium, and iron substituting for the ruthenium.
It was discovered in 1866 in Borneo, Malaysia and named for Laurie, the wife of Charles A. Joy, an American chemist. It occurs in ultramafic magmatic cumulate deposits and sedimentary placer deposits derived from them. It occurs associated with cooperite, braggite, sperrylite, other minerals of the platinum group elements and chromite.
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