Polarite, is an opaque, yellow-white mineral with the chemical formula . Its crystals are orthorhombic pyramidal, but can only be seen through a

microscope A microscope () is a laboratory equipment, laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic ...

. It has a metallic luster and leaves a white streak. Polarite is rated 3.5 to 4 on the

Mohs Scale The Mohs scale ( ) of mineral hardness is a qualitative ordinal scale, from 1 to 10, characterizing scratch resistance of minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material. The scale was introduced in 1812 by the Ger ...

.Webmineral data
/ref>Handbook of Mineralogy
/ref> It was first described in 1969 for an occurrence in Talnakh,

Norilsk Norilsk ( rus, Нори́льск, p=nɐˈrʲilʲsk) is a closed city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located south of the western Taymyr Peninsula, around 90 km east of the Yenisei, Yenisey River and 1,500 km north of Krasnoyarsk. Norilsk is 300 ...

in the Polar Ural Mountains in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It has also been recorded from the

Bushveld igneous complex The Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC) is the largest Layered intrusion, layered igneous intrusion within the Earth's Crust (geology), crust. It has been tilted and Erosion, eroded forming the outcrops around what appears to be the edge of a great Ba ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and from Fox Gulch, Goodnews Bay,

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

References

Palladium minerals Bismuth minerals Lead minerals Orthorhombic minerals Minerals in space group 36 Minerals described in 1969 {{mineral-stub