Image: <bdi><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q126871368" class="extiw" title="d:Q126871368"><span title="photographer from the United States">Darla Sondrol</span></a></bdi> (CC0)

cubicuncommonNative Elements

Platinum

A small, highly tarnished gray mass of native platinum is visible in the top center of a graywacke matrix. The entire specimen measures 3 cm across.

Platinum Physical Properties

Mohs Hardness

3.5

Crystal System

cubic

Luster

metallic

Streak Color

steel-gray to silvery-white

Cleavage

none

Fracture

hackly

Specific Gravity

Colors

silvery-white, steel-gray, gray

Transparency

opaque

Type Locality

Ural Mountains (Russia), Bushveld Complex (South Africa), Sudbury Basin (Canada)

Mineral Group

Native Elements

Uses

jewelry, catalytic converters, laboratory equipment, dentistry, investment

Associated Minerals

chromite, olivine, pyroxene, magnetite, gold, iridium, palladium

Rarity

uncommon

Geological Context

Platinum typically forms as a native metal or in alloys within ultramafic igneous rocks (such as dunites and peridotites) and chromitite layers, often concentrated through magmatic differentiation processes. It is also found in secondary placer deposits.

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