Native element minerals are those elements that occur in nature in uncombined form with a distinct mineral structure. The elemental class includes

metals A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. These properties are all associated with having electrons available at the Fermi level, as against no ...

intermetallic compounds An intermetallic (also called intermetallic compound, intermetallic alloy, ordered intermetallic alloy, long-range-ordered alloy) is a type of metallic alloy that forms an ordered solid-state compound between two or more metallic elements. Inte ...

alloys An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have properties ...

metalloids A metalloid is a chemical element which has a preponderance of properties in between, or that are a mixture of, those of metals and nonmetals. The word metalloid comes from the Latin ''metallum'' ("metal") and the Greek ''oeides'' ("resembling ...

, and

nonmetals In the context of the periodic table, a nonmetal is a chemical element that mostly lacks distinctive metallic properties. They range from colorless gases like hydrogen to shiny crystals like iodine. Physically, they are usually lighter (less ...

. The

Nickel–Strunz classification Nickel–Strunz classification is a scheme for categorizing minerals based upon their chemical composition, introduced by German mineralogist Karl Hugo Strunz (24 February 1910 – 19 April 2006) in his ''Mineralogische Tabellen'' (1941). The 4 ...

system also includes the naturally occurring

phosphide In chemistry, a phosphide is a compound containing the ion or its equivalent. Many different phosphides are known, with widely differing structures. Most commonly encountered on the binary phosphides, i.e. those materials consisting only of pho ...

silicide A silicide is a type of chemical compound that combines silicon and a usually more electropositive element. Silicon is more electropositive than carbon. In terms of their physical properties, silicides are structurally closer to borides than t ...

nitride In chemistry, a nitride is a chemical compound of nitrogen. Nitrides can be inorganic or organic, ionic or covalent. The nitride anion, N3−, is very elusive but compounds of nitride are numerous, although rarely naturally occurring. Some nitr ...

carbide In chemistry, a carbide usually describes a compound composed of carbon and a metal. In metallurgy, carbiding or carburizing is the process for producing carbide coatings on a metal piece. Interstitial / Metallic carbides The carbides of th ...

s, and

arsenide In chemistry, an arsenide is a compound of arsenic with a less electronegative element or elements. Many metals form binary compounds containing arsenic, and these are called arsenides. They exist with many Stoichiometry, stoichiometries, and in t ...

Elements

The following elements occur as native element minerals or alloys:

Nickel–Strunz Classification -01- Native elements

This list uses the Classification of Nickel–Strunz (

mindat.org Mindat.org is a non-commercial interactive online database covering minerals around the world. Originally created by Jolyon Ralph as a private project in 1993, it was launched as a community-editable website in October 2000. it is operated by ...

, 10 ed, pending publication). ;Abbreviations: * "*" – discredited (IMA/CNMNC status). * "?" – questionable/doubtful (IMA/CNMNC status). * "REE" –

Rare-earth element The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or rare earths, and sometimes the lanthanides or lanthanoids (although scandium and yttrium, which do not belong to this series, are usually included as rare earths), are a set o ...

(Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu) * "PGE" – Platinum-group element (Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, Pt) * 03.C Aluminofluorides, 06 Borates, 08 Vanadates (04.H V^{,6/sup> Vanadates), 09 Silicates:
** Neso: insular (from Greek

Greek may refer to:

Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
νησος nēsos, island)
** Soro: grouping (from Greek σωροῦ sōros, heap, mound (especially of corn))
** Cyclo: ring
** Ino: chain (from Greek ις enitive: ινος ''inos'' fibre)
** Phyllo: sheet (from Greek φύλλον ''phyllon'', leaf)
** Tecto: three-dimensional framework

;Nickel–Strunz code scheme: NN.XY.##x:
* NN: Nickel–Strunz mineral class number
* X: Nickel–Strunz mineral division letter
* Y: Nickel–Strunz mineral family letter
* ##x: Nickel–Strunz mineral/group number, x add-on letter

Class: native elements

* 01.A Metals and intermetallic alloys
** 01.AA Copper-cupalite family: 05 native copper

Native copper is an uncombined form of copper that occurs as a natural mineral. Copper is one of the few metallic elements to occur in native form, although it most commonly occurs in oxidized states and mixed with other elements. Native coppe ...
, 05 lead

Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
, 05 native gold, 05 native silver

Silver is a chemical element; it has symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. Silver is found in ...
, 05 nickel

Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...
, 05 aluminium

Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...
; 10a auricupride, 10b tetra-auricupride; 15 novodneprite, 15 khatyrkite

Khatyrkite ( ) is a rare mineral which is mostly composed of copper and aluminium, but may contain up to about 15% of zinc or iron. Its chemical structure is described by an approximate formula or . It was discovered in 1985 in a Placer deposit, ...
, 15 anyuiite; 20 cupalite, 25 hunchunite
** 01.AB Zinc-brass family (Cu-Zn alloys): 05 cadmium

Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...
, 05 zinc

Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...
, 05 titanium

Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...
*, 05 rhenium

Rhenium is a chemical element; it has symbol Re and atomic number 75. It is a silvery-gray, heavy, third-row transition metal in group 7 of the periodic table. With an estimated average concentration of 1 part per billion (ppb), rhenium is one ...
*; 10a brass

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...
*, 10a zhanghengite

Zhanghengite is a mineral consisting of 80% copper and zinc, 10% iron, and 10% chromium and aluminium. Its color is golden yellow. It was discovered in 1986 during the analysis of the Bo Xian meteorite and is named after Zhang Heng, an ancient Ch ...
, 10b danbaite, 10b tongxinite*
** 01.AC Indium-tin family: 05 indium

Indium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol In and atomic number 49. It is a silvery-white post-transition metal and one of the softest elements. Chemically, indium is similar to gallium and thallium, and its properties are la ...
, 10 tin

Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...
; 15 yuanjiangite, 15 sorosite
** 01.AD Mercury-amalgam family: 00 amalgam

Amalgam most commonly refers to:
* Amalgam (chemistry), mercury alloy
* Amalgam (dentistry), material of silver tooth fillings
** Bonded amalgam, used in dentistry

Amalgam may also refer to:

* Amalgam Comics, a publisher
* Amalgam Digital, an in ...
*, 05 mercury; 10 belendorffite, 10 kolymite; 15a paraschachnerite, 15a schachnerite, 15b luanheite, 15c eugenite, 15d moschellandsbergite; 20a weishanite, 20b goldamalgam*; 25 potarite, 30 leadamalgam
** 01.AE Iron-chromium family: 05 kamacite

Kamacite is an alloy of iron and nickel, which is found on Earth only in meteorites. According to the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) it is considered a proper nickel-rich variety of the mineral native iron. The proportion iron:ni ...
? (iron var.), 05 iron

Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
, 05 chromium

Chromium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6 element, group 6. It is a steely-grey, Luster (mineralogy), lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal.

Chromium ...
; 10 antitaenite Antitaenite is a meteoritic metal alloy mineral composed of iron (Fe) and 20–40% nickel (Ni), (and traces of other elements) that has a face centered cubic crystal structure.

There are three other known Fe-Ni meteoritic minerals: kamacite, taen ...
*, 10 taenite

Taenite is a mineral found naturally on Earth mostly in iron meteorites. It is an alloy of iron and nickel, with a chemical formula of and nickel proportions of 20% up to 65%.

The name is derived from the Greek ταινία for "band, ribbo ...
, 10 tetrataenite

Tetrataenite is a native metal alloy composed of chemically-ordered L10-type , recognized as a mineral in 1980. The mineral is named after its tetragonal crystal structure and its relation to the iron-nickel alloy, taenite, which is chemically dis ...
; 15 chromferide, 15 wairauite, 15 ferchromide; 20 awaruite
Awaruite is a naturally occurring alloy of nickel and iron with a composition from Ni2Fe to Ni3Fe.

Awaruite occurs in river placer deposits derived from serpentinized peridotites and ophiolites. It also occurs as a rare component of meteorites. It ...
, 25 jedwabite
** 01.AF Platinum-group elements: 05 osmium

Osmium () is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Os and atomic number 76. It is a hard, brittle, bluish-white transition metal in the platinum group that is found as a Abundance of elements in Earth's crust, trace element in a ...
, 05 rutheniridosmine, 05 ruthenium

Ruthenium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ru and atomic number 44. It is a rare transition metal belonging to the platinum group of the periodic table. Like the other metals of the platinum group, ruthenium is unreactive to most chem ...
; 10 palladium

Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...
, 10 iridium

Iridium is a chemical element; it has the symbol Ir and atomic number 77. This very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal (after osmium) with a density ...
, 10 rhodium

Rhodium is a chemical element; it has symbol Rh and atomic number 45. It is a very rare, silvery-white, hard, corrosion-resistant transition metal. It is a noble metal and a member of the platinum group. It has only one naturally occurring isot ...
, 10 platinum

Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

** 01.AG PGE-metal alloys: 05 garutiite, 05 hexaferrum; 10 atokite, 10 zvyagintsevite, 10 rustenburgite; 15 taimyrite, 15 tatyanaite; 20 paolovite; 25 plumbopalladinite, 25 stannopalladinite; 30 cabriite

Cabriite ( Pd2 Sn Cu) is a mineral first found in the eastern Siberia

Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed ...
; 35 chengdeite, 35 isoferroplatinum; 40 ferronickelplatinum, 40 tetraferroplatinum, 40 tulameenite; 45 hongshiite*, 45 skaergaardite; 50 yixunite, 55 damiaoite, 60 niggliite, 65 bortnikovite, 70 nielsenite
* 01.B Metallic carbides, silicides, nitrides and phosphides
** 01.BA Carbides: 05 cohenite

Cohenite is a naturally occurring iron carbide mineral with the chemical structure ( Fe, Ni, Co)3 C. This forms a hard, shiny, silver mineral which was named by E. Weinschenk in 1889 after the German mineralogist Emil Cohen, who first describe ...
; 10 isovite, 10 haxonite

Haxonite is an iron nickel carbide mineral found in iron meteorites and carbonaceous chondrites. It has a chemical formula of , crystallises in the cubic crystal system and has a Mohs hardness of - 6.

It was first described in 1971, and named af ...
; 15 tongbaite; 20 khamrabaevite, 20 niobocarbide, 20 tantalcarbide; 25 qusongite, 30 yarlongite
** 01.BB Silicides: zangboite; 05 mavlyanovite, 05 suessite; 10 perryite, 15 fersilicite*, 20 ferdisilicite*, 25 luobusaite, 30 gupeiite, 35 hapkeite

Hapkeite is a mineral discovered in the Dhofar 280 meteorite found in 2000 in Oman on the Arabian Peninsula. The meteorite is believed to originate from the Moon; specifically, it appears to be a fragment of lunar highland breccia. Hapkeite's comp ...
, 40 xifengite

Xifengite ( Fe5 Si3) is a rare metallic iron silicide mineral. The crystal system of xifengite is hexagonal. It has a specific gravity of 6.45 and a Mohs hardness of 5.5. It occurs as steel gray inclusions within other meteorite derived nic ...

** 01.BC Nitrides: 05 roaldite, 10 siderazot, 15 carlsbergite, 15 osbornite
** 01.BD Phosphides: 05 schreibersite

Schreibersite is generally a rare iron nickel phosphide mineral, , though common in iron-nickel meteorites. It has been found on Disko Island in Greenland and Illinois.

Another name used for the mineral is rhabdite. It forms tetragonal crystals ...
, 05 nickelphosphide; 10 barringerite, 10 monipite; 15 allabogdanite

Allabogdanite is a very rare phosphide mineral with the chemical formula , found in 1994 in a meteorite. It was described for an occurrence in the Onello meteorite in the Onello River basin, Sakha Republic; Sakha Republic, Yakutia, Russia; associa ...
, 15 florenskyite, 15 andreyivanovite; 20 melliniite
* 01.C Metalloids and nonmetals
** 01.CA Arsenic group elements: 05 bismuth

Bismuth is a chemical element; it has symbol Bi and atomic number 83. It is a post-transition metal and one of the pnictogens, with chemical properties resembling its lighter group 15 siblings arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth occurs nat ...
, 05 native antimony

Native antimony is a mineral belonging to the group of native elements, with properties equivalent to those of the antimony element obtained by processing its ores. The name comes from the Latin ''antimonium''. For centuries, the term ''antimony ...
, 05 arsenic

Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...
, 05 stibarsen; 10 arsenolamprite, 10 pararsenolamprite; 15 paradocrasite
** 01.CB Carbon-silicon family: 05a graphite

Graphite () is a Crystallinity, crystalline allotrope (form) of the element carbon. It consists of many stacked Layered materials, layers of graphene, typically in excess of hundreds of layers. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable ...
, 05b chaoite, 05c fullerite; 10a diamond

Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
, 10b lonsdaleite

Lonsdaleite (named in honour of Kathleen Lonsdale), also called hexagonal diamond in reference to the crystal structure, is an allotrope of carbon with a hexagonal lattice, as opposed to the cubical lattice of conventional diamond. It is found ...
, 15 silicon

Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre, and is a tetravalent metalloid (sometimes considered a non-metal) and semiconductor. It is a membe ...

** 01.CC Sulfur-selenium-iodine: 05 sulfur

Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...
, 05 rosickyite; 10 tellurium

Tellurium is a chemical element; it has symbol Te and atomic number 52. It is a brittle, mildly toxic, rare, silver-white metalloid. Tellurium is chemically related to selenium and sulfur, all three of which are chalcogens. It is occasionally fou ...
, 10 selenium

Selenium is a chemical element; it has symbol (chemistry), symbol Se and atomic number 34. It has various physical appearances, including a brick-red powder, a vitreous black solid, and a grey metallic-looking form. It seldom occurs in this elem ...

* 01.D Nonmetallic carbides and nitrides
** 01.DA Nonmetallic carbides: 05 moissanite

Moissanite () is naturally occurring silicon carbide and its various crystalline polymorphs. It has the chemical formula SiC and is a rare mineral, discovered by the French chemist Henri Moissan in 1893. Silicon carbide or moissanite is useful ...

** 01.DB Nonmetallic nitrides: 05 nierite, 10 sinoite
* 01.X Unclassified Strunz elements (metals and intermetallic alloys; metalloids and nonmetals; carbides, silicides, nitrides, phosphides)
** 01.XX Unknown: 00 hexamolybdenum

Hexamolybdenum is a molybdenum dominant alloy discovered during a nanomineralogy investigation of the Allende meteorite. Hexamolybdenum was discovered in a small ultrarefractory inclusion within the Allende meteorite. This inclusion has been name ...
, 00 tantalum

Tantalum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ta and atomic number 73. It is named after Tantalus, a figure in Greek mythology. Tantalum is a very hard, ductility, ductile, lustre (mineralogy), lustrous, blue-gray transition ...
*, 00 brownleeite

See also

* Free element

In chemistry, a free element is a chemical element that is not combined with or chemically bonded to other elements. Examples of elements which can occur as free elements include the molecular oxygen (O) and carbon as diamond or graphite.A. Earn ...

* Gangue

Gangue () is the commercially worthless material that surrounds, or is closely mixed with, a wanted mineral in an ore deposit. It is thus distinct from overburden, which is the waste rock or materials overlying an ore or mineral body that are di ...

* Native metal

A native metal is any metal that is found pure in its metallic form in nature. Metals that can be found as native element mineral, native deposits singly or in alloys include antimony, arsenic, bismuth, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, indium, iron, ma ...

* Native state

In biochemistry, the native state of a protein or nucleic acid is its properly Protein folding, folded and/or assembled form, which is operative and functional. The native state of a biomolecule may possess all four levels of biomolecular structu ...

References

*
*
*

Mineralsystematik nach Strunz 9. Auflage von 2001 (aktuell)
* Hr. Dr. Udo Neumann der Uni-Tuebingen

{{Authority control

Classification of minerals}