What are native elements in mineralogy ?
Native elements : definition
This mineralogical class includes minerals that occur naturally in nature. Aside from rare gases, only about twenty elements occur in this form, constituting a class of about 120 minerals.
This class is divided into 3 subclasses :
- metals, with different groups, include gold, copper, silver, iron and platinum
- semi-metals, rarer, with mainly antimony, arsenic and bismuth
- non-metals, few in number but industrially very important, with sulphur and carbon dimorphs : graphite and diamond.
These minerals are for the most part rare or very rare, with the exception of a few native metals (gold, silver, copper, etc.) whose importance in the development of civilization must be emphasized.
This class is divided into 3 subclasses :
- metals, with different groups, include gold, copper, silver, iron and platinum
- semi-metals, rarer, with mainly antimony, arsenic and bismuth
- non-metals, few in number but industrially very important, with sulphur and carbon dimorphs : graphite and diamond.
These minerals are for the most part rare or very rare, with the exception of a few native metals (gold, silver, copper, etc.) whose importance in the development of civilization must be emphasized.
Native gold from Brussn, Aosta Valley, Italy
Native silver from Batopilas, Mexico
Native copper from Itauz Mine, Kazakhstan
Native sulphur from Girgenti, Italy