Metals Gold Group Gold--Au Silver--Ag Copper--Cu Platinum Group Platinum--Pt Iron Group Iron--Fe Semimetals Arsenic Group Arsenic--As Bismuth--Bi Nonmetals Sulfur--S Diamond--C Graphite--C The links above will take you to the Mineral Gallery website (http://www.galleries.com).

Minerals that are composed of atoms of a single element are referred to as native elements. The minerals of the gold group all occur together in the periodic table of elements and have a common crystal structure. They all are soft, can be hammered out into thin sheets (malleable), drawn into wire (ductile), and cut into thin shavings with a knife (sectile). All are excellent conductors of heat and electricity, display metallic luster, have low melting points, and unusually high specific gravities. Minerals of the platinum group include a number of rare minerals. These minerals are harder and have higher melting points than those of the gold group. In the iron group, the element nickel is the same size as iron (has the same atomic radii) and can subsititue for some of it. This is known as a solid-solution. Iron-nickel solid solutions are found in metrorites and compose a large part of the Earth's core. The minerals of the semimetals group are rather brittle and much more poorer conductors of heat and electricity than the metals. These properties are due to the type of bonding between the atoms. The structure is made up of sheets that are weakly bonded together, giving rise to cleavage.

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Mineral Groups