Oregonite, Ni₂ Fe As₂ is a

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

arsenide mineral An arsenide mineral is a mineral that contains arsenide as its main anion. Arsenides are grouped with the sulfides in both the Dana and Strunz mineral classification systems. Examples * algodonite * domeykite * löllingite * nickeline * ramm ...

first described from Josephine Creek,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, United States. Oregonite crystallises in the

hexagonal crystal system In crystallography, the hexagonal crystal family is one of the six crystal families, which includes two crystal systems (hexagonal and trigonal) and two lattice systems (hexagonal and rhombohedral). While commonly confused, the trigonal crysta ...

and has a

Mohs hardness The Mohs scale of mineral hardness () is a qualitative ordinal scale, from 1 to 10, characterizing scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material. The scale was introduced in 1812 by t ...

of 5.

Occurrence

Oregonite is known, apart from its type locality, from the Chirnaisky Massif, Russia, associated with hydrothermal nickel minerals (

millerite Millerite is a nickel sulfide mineral, Ni S. It is brassy in colour and has an acicular habit, often forming radiating masses and furry aggregates. It can be distinguished from pentlandite by crystal habit, its duller colour, and general la ...

, heazelwoodite) in a metamorphosed ultramafic; from the Skouriatissa mine,

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, associated with VMS mineralisation; and from the

Kidd Mine Kidd Mine or Kidd Creek Mine is an underground base metal mine north of Timmins, Ontario, Canada. It is owned and operated by Swiss multinational Glencore Inc. The mine was discovered in 1963 by Texas Gulf Sulfur Company. In 1981 it was sold to ...

Timmins, Ontario Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ex ...

, Canada within

serpentinite Serpentinite is a rock composed predominantly of one or more serpentine group minerals, the name originating from the similarity of the texture of the rock to that of the skin of a snake. Serpentinite has been called ''serpentine'' or ''se ...

-hosted chromite deposits.

References

Nickel minerals Iron(II) minerals Arsenide minerals Hexagonal minerals {{mineral-stub