Stillwaterite was first discovered in the Banded and Upper zones of the Stillwater igneous complex in Montana, United States, and has been reported in the Lac-des-Iles area of Ontario, Canada.
In oil immersion, it shows distinct anisotropy with brownish black color and a blue to yellow-brown tinge.
Hexagonal minerals such as stillwaterite are referred to as uniaxial crystals because they have only one direction, along the optic axis, in which light is not reoriented.
Since its discovery in the mid-1970s, Stillwaterite has been studied to better understand the characteristics of complex mineral assemblages of gold, silicates, and other palladium arsenides with which it is associated.
Minerals containing palladium can have economic significance, and are mined for use in industrial and commercial applications.