Zvyagintsevite

When Russian geologists discovered the Konder platinum deposit in the early 1980s, it was considered a mineral treasure due to its richness. For many years, no one suspected that this treasure hid something even rarer than platinum, at least from a mineralogical point of view. Zvyagintsevite crystals cannot be visually distinguished from “normal” platinum crystals. It was not until later, in the 1990s, that these crystals, initially mistaken for pure platinum crystals, were described. They attracted attention due to their lower specific gravity and cleavability. Subsequent research revealed their chemical composition to be Pd3Pb, which made them one of the most attractive palladium-containing minerals for collectors.