# Melonite

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Telluride of nickel

For the trademarked surface finish, see [Ferritic nitrocarburizing](/source/Ferritic_nitrocarburizing).

Melonite Melonite after calaverite, on quartz. Cresson mine, Cripple Creek, Colorado. Size: 1.3 × 0.9 × 0.4 cm. General Category Sulfide minerals Formula NiTe2 IMA symbol Mlt[1] Strunz classification 2.EA.20 Dana classification 02.12.14.01 Crystal system Trigonal Crystal class Hexagonal scalenohedral (3m) H-M symbol: (3 2/m) Space group P3m1 Unit cell a = 3.84 Å, c = 5.26 Å; Z = 1 Identification Formula mass 313.89 g/mol Color White, reddish white Crystal habit Crystalline, foliated, granular Cleavage {0001} Perfect Fracture Brittle Mohs scale hardness 1–1.5 Luster Metallic Streak Dark gray Diaphaneity Opaque Specific gravity 7.72 Density 7.3 Ultraviolet fluorescence None References [2][3][4][5]

**Melonite** is a [telluride](/source/Telluride_mineral) of [nickel](/source/Nickel); it is a [metallic](/source/Metal) [mineral](/source/Mineral). Its chemical formula is NiTe2. It is opaque and white to reddish-white in color, [oxidizing](/source/Oxidation) in air to a brown tarnish.

It was first described from the Melones and Stanislaus mine in [Calaveras County, California](/source/Calaveras_County%2C_California) in 1866, by [Frederick Augustus Genth](/source/Frederick_Augustus_Genth).

Melonite occurs as [trigonal](/source/Trigonal) crystals, which cleave in a (0001) direction. It has a [specific gravity](/source/Specific_gravity) of 7.72 and a [hardness](/source/Mohs_hardness_scale) of 1–1.5 (very soft).

## See also

- [List of minerals](/source/List_of_minerals)

- [Tenifer and Melonite finish](/source/Ferritic_nitrocarburizing)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Warr, L.N. (2021). ["IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols"](https://doi.org/10.1180%2Fmgm.2021.43). *Mineralogical Magazine*. **85** (3): 291–320. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2021MinM...85..291W](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021MinM...85..291W). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1180/mgm.2021.43](https://doi.org/10.1180%2Fmgm.2021.43). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [235729616](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:235729616).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Mineralienatlas](https://www.mineralienatlas.de/lexikon/index.php/MineralData?mineral=Melonite)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Webmineral_3-0)** ["Melonite Mineral Data"](http://webmineral.com/data/Melonite.shtml). Webmineral.com. Retrieved 2011-10-28.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Mindat_4-0)** ["Melonite mineral information and data"](http://www.mindat.org/min-2639.html). Mindat.org. Retrieved 2011-10-28.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Mieralienatlas_5-0)** ["Mieralienatlas Lexikon - Melonit"](http://www.mineralienatlas.de/lexikon/index.php/MineralData?lang=en&language=english&mineral=Melonit). Mieralienatlas. Retrieved 2011-10-28.

- D. M. Chizhikov and V. P. Shchastlivyi, 1966, *Tellurium and Tellurides*, [Nauka](/source/Nauka_(publisher)) Publishing, [Moscow](/source/Moscow)

## External links

- Media related to [Melonite](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Melonite) at Wikimedia Commons

- The dictionary definition of [*melonite*](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:Search/melonite) at Wiktionary

Melonite and [Calaverite](/source/Calaverite), [Kambalda](/source/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.

Melonite crystal structure (Wyckoff 1963), crystallographic standard alignment

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