Short term exposure to osmium metal is safe, but you wouldn’t want to have constant skin exposure for years at a time. Even minute quantities of osmium tetroxide exposure over a long period could have noticeable effects. This is like saying that you shouldn’t risk wearing gold because gold cyanide is dangerous.

Chemical dangers: The substance decomposes on heating producing fumes of osmium. The substance is a strong oxidant and reacts with combustible and reducing materials. Reacts with hydrochloric acid to form toxic chlorine gas. The substance is corrosive to the eyes, the skin, and the respiratory tract.

A shiny, silver metal that resists corrosion. It is the densest of all the elements and is twice as dense as lead. Osmium has only a few uses. It is used to produce very hard alloys for fountain pen tips, instrument pivots, needles and electrical contacts.

According to Metals Daily, the current price of osmium (at the time of publishing) is $400 per ounce. Gold is closer to $1,500 and platinum is about $900.

Osmium tetroxide is acutely toxic. It is a severe irritant (eyes, respiratory tract) and can cause irreversible eye damage. Direct contact to the eyes may cause blindness. Osmium tetroxide causes long-term toxicity to liver and kidneys.

Osmium is a Metal Commodity. It cannot be purchased from Commodities Markets, and must be mined from asteroids in metallic or metal-rich Planetary Ring Systems. The Engineer Marsha Hicks requires 10 units of Osmium before she will provide her services.

Commodity Osmium Metals

Osmium occurs in iridosule and in platinum-bearing river sands in the Urals, North America, and South America. It is also found in the nickel-bearing ores of Sudbury, Ontario region along with other platinum metals.

Bromellite is mined in ice rings.