Anative metal is anymetal that is found pure in its metallic form in nature.[1][2] Metals that can be found asnative deposits singly or in alloys includeantimony,arsenic,bismuth,cadmium,chromium,cobalt,indium,iron,manganese,molybdenum,nickel,niobium,rhenium,tantalum,tellurium,tin,titanium,tungsten,vanadium, andzinc, as well as the gold group (gold,copper,lead,aluminium,[3]mercury,silver) and theplatinum group (platinum,iridium,osmium,palladium,rhodium,ruthenium). Among the alloys found in native state have beenbrass,bronze,pewter,German silver,osmiridium,electrum,white gold, silver-mercuryamalgam, and gold-mercury amalgam.[citation needed]
Only gold, silver, copper and the platinum group occur native in large amounts.[citation needed] Over geological time scales, very few metals can resist natural weathering processes likeoxidation, so mainly the less reactive metals such as gold and platinum are found as native metals. The others usually occur as isolated pockets where a natural chemical process reduces a common compound or ore of the metal, leaving the pure metal behind as small flakes or inclusions.
Metals are not the only type ofchemical element that can occur in the native state. Non-metallic elements occurring in the native state includecarbon,sulfur, andselenium.Silicon, a semi-metal, has rarely been found in the native state as small inclusions in gold.[4]
Native metals were prehistoric man's only access to metal, since the process of extracting metals from their ores (smelting) is thought to have been discovered around 6500 BC. However, native metals could be found only in impractically small amounts, so while copper and iron were known well before theCopper Age andIron Age, they did not have a large impact until smelting appeared.
Most gold is mined as native metal and can be found as nuggets, veins or wires of gold in a rock matrix, or fine grains of gold, mixed in with sediments or bound within rock. The iconic image of gold mining for many isgold panning, which is a method of separating flakes and nuggets of pure gold from river sediments due to their greatdensity. Native gold is the predominant gold mineral on the earth. It is sometimes found alloyed with silver and/or other metals, but true gold compound minerals are uncommon, mainly a handful ofselenides and tellurides.
Native silver occurs as elongateddendritic coatings or irregular masses. It may also occur as cubic, octahedral, or dodecahedral crystals. It may occur alloyed with gold aselectrum. It often occurs with silversulfide andsulfosalt minerals.[5][6] Variousamalgams of silver and mercury or other metals and mercury do occur rarely as minerals in nature. An example is the mineraleugenite (Ag11Hg2) and related forms.[7] Silver nuggets, wires, and grains are relatively common, but there are also a large number of silver compound minerals owing to silver being more reactive than gold.
Natural alloys of theplatinum group metals include: nativeosmium (Os,Ir,Ru),rutheniridosmine (Ir,Os,Ru),ruthenium (Ru,Ir),palladium (Pd,Pt),platinum Pt, andrhodium (Rh,Pt). In addition, gold, copper, iron, mercury, tin, and lead may occur in alloys of this group.[8] As with gold, salts and other compounds of the platinum group metals are rare; native platinum and related metals and alloys are the predominant minerals bearing these metals. These metals occur associated withultramafic intrusions, andplacer deposits derived from those intrusions.
Native copper has been historically mined as an early source of the metal. The termOld Copper Complex is used to describe an ancient North American civilization that utilized native copper deposits for weapons, tools, and decorative objects. This society existed aroundLake Superior, where they found sources of native copper and mined them between 6000 and 3000 BC.[9] Copper would have been especially useful to ancient humans as it was much stronger than gold, hard enough to be made into useful items such as fishhooks and woodworking tools, but still soft enough to be easily shaped, unlikemeteoric iron.
The same deposits of native copper on theKeweenaw Peninsula andIsle Royale were latermined commercially. From 1845 until 1887, the MichiganCopper Country was the leading producer of copper in the United States. Masses of native copper weighing hundreds of tons were sometimes found in the mines.
The spectrum of copper minerals closely resembles that of silver, ranging from oxides of its multiple oxidation states through sulfides and silicates to halides and chlorates, iodates, nitrates and others. Natural alloys of copper (particularly with silver; the two metals can also be found in separate but co-mingled masses) are also found.
Telluric iron (Earth born) is very rare, with only one major deposit known in the world, located on or nearDisko Island inGreenland. Most of the native iron on earth is actually not in fact "native", in the traditional sense, to Earth. It mainly comes fromiron-nickel meteorites that formed millions of years ago but were preserved from chemical attack by the vacuum of space, and fell to the earth a relatively short time ago. Metallic meteorites are composed primarily of theiron-nickel alloys:taenite (high nickel content) andkamacite (low nickel content). However, there are a few areas on earth where truly native iron can be found.[10][11]
Native nickel has been described inserpentinite due tohydrothermal alteration ofultramafic rocks inNew Caledonia and elsewhere.[12][13]
Metalliccobalt has been reported in the Canadian Lorraine Mine,Cobalt-Gowganda region, theTimiskaming District,Ontario, Canada, and in the Aidyrlya gold deposit inOrenburgskaya Oblast of the SouthernUrals.[14]
All other native metals occur only in small quantities or are found in geologically special regions. For example, metalliccadmium was only found at two locations including theVilyuy River basin inSiberia.[16] Nativemolybdenum has been found inlunar regolith and in theKoryakskii volcano inKamchatka Oblast of Russia.[17] Elsewhere in this region native indium, aluminium, tantalum, tellurium, and other metals have been reported.[citation needed] Native lead[18] is quite rare but somewhat more widespread, as are tin,[19] mercury,[20] arsenic,[21] antimony,[22] and bismuth.[23]
Native chromium has been found in small grains in Sichuan, China[24] and other locations.[25]
