Laurite is an opaque black, metallic ruthenium sulfide mineral with formula: RuS<sub>2</sub>. It crystallizes in the isometric system. It is in the pyrite structural group. Though it's been found in many localities worldwide, it is extremely rare.
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.
Discovery and occurrence
It was discovered in 1866 in Borneo, Malaysia and named for Laurie, the wife of Charles A. Joy, an American chemist.