Melonite is a telluride of nickel; it is a metallic mineral. Its chemical formula is NiTe<sub>2</sub>. It is opaque and white to reddish-white in color, oxidizing in air to a brown tarnish.
It was first described from the Melones and Stanislaus mine in Calaveras County, California in 1866, by Frederick Augustus Genth.
Melonite occurs as trigonal crystals, which cleave in a (0001) direction. It has a specific gravity of 7.72 and a hardness of 1–1.5 (very soft).
See also
- List of minerals
- Tenifer and Melonite finish
References
- D. M. Chizhikov and V. P. Shchastlivyi, 1966, Tellurium and Tellurides, Nauka Publishing, Moscow
External links
<br>
thumb|left|Melonite and [[Calaverite, Kambalda, Coolgardie Shire, Western Australia. Melonite is a rare nickel telluride. This is a showy, solid foliated mass of lustrous, slightly iridescent melonite with a bit of brassy, golden pyrite on one side from this major nickel producing area.]]
thumb|left|Melonite crystal structure (Wyckoff 1963), crystallographic standard alignment