Pentlandite
Real mineral · uncommon · (Fe,Ni)₉S₈
The world's principal ore of nickel, almost never found alone: it exsolves as flames and blebs inside pyrrhotite as a magmatic sulfide melt cools. Bronze-yellow, and faintly magnetic through its host.
Identity
- Formula
- (Fe,Ni)₉S₈
- Chemical class
- sulfide
Crystallography
- Crystal system
- cubic
- Habits
- granular, massive
- Fracture
- conchoidal
Physical properties
- Mohs hardness
- 4
- Density
- 4.8 g/cm³
- Luster
- metallic
- Colors
- bronze, brown
- Streak
- greenish black
- Transparency
- opaque
Geology
- Origins
- igneous, hydrothermal
- Host rocks
- norite, peridotite
- Associated minerals
- Pyrrhotite, Chalcopyrite, Magnetite
- Geography
- Canada, Russia, South Africa
Classification
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Gem quality
- No
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