| Melonite | |
| Boxbgcolor: |
|
| Category: | Sulfide minerals |
| Formula: | NiTe2 |
| Imasymbol: | Mlt[1] |
| Molweight: | 313.89 g/mol |
| Strunz: | 2.EA.20 |
| Dana: | 02.12.14.01 |
| Class: | Hexagonal scalenohedral (m) H-M symbol: (2/m) |
| Symmetry: | Pm1 |
| Unit Cell: | a = 3.84 Å, c = 5.26 Å; Z = 1 |
| Color: | White, reddish white |
| Habit: | Crystalline, foliated, granular |
| System: | Trigonal |
| Cleavage: | Perfect |
| Fracture: | Brittle |
| Mohs: | 1–1.5 |
| Luster: | Metallic |
| Streak: | Dark gray |
| Diaphaneity: | Opaque |
| Gravity: | 7.72 |
| Density: | 7.3 |
| Fluorescence: | None |
| References: | [2] [3] [4] [5] |
Melonite is a telluride of nickel; it is a metallic mineral. Its chemical formula is NiTe2. 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).