Microscopic inclusions (not visible under the binocular microscope) of the extremely rare rhodium mineral rhodplumsite in a polished section that was probably analyzed by the former owner of the specimen, the Vandenbroucke Museum, but the analysis is no longer available. Ex Vandenbroucke Museum collection from Waregem, Belgium. — Photo: David Hospital · CC BY-SA 4.0
Rhodplumsite
A rare rhodium-lead sulfide — named for its two metals — first found as 40-micron grains inside a platinum nugget.
Intro adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Rhodplumsite is an IMA-recognized mineral species in the sulfide class, with the chemical formula Rh₃Pb₂S₂.
It crystallizes in the hexagonal crystal system (space group R-3m).
Key properties: specific gravity 9.74.
IMA symbol Rhp, IMA status: approved, named in 1982.
Found in a platinum nugget in a placer probably derived from the nearby Omutninskii gabbro-pyroxenite-dunite massif.
It is found associated with Platinum, tulameenite, iridium–osmium, laurite, chromite.
The name refers to rhodium and lead, plumbum, in the composition.