- align=center bgcolor="#9966FF"	Pentlandite		- align=center	- align=center bgcolor="#9966FF"	General		-	Category	Mineral	-	Chemical formula	iron nickel sulfide:(Fe,Ni)9S8	- align="center" bgcolor="#9966FF"	Identification		-	Color	Yellowish bronze	-	Crystal habit	Hexoctahedral rare; massive to granular	-	Crystal system	Isometric	-	Cleavage	absent - octahedral parting	-	Fracture	Conchoidal	-	Mohs Scale hardness	3.5 - 4	-	Luster	metallic	-	Refractive index	opaque	-	Pleochroism	N/A	-	Streak	light bronze-brown	-	Specific gravity	4.6 - 5.0	-	Fusibility	1.5 - 2	-	Solubility	?	-	Other Characteristics	becomes magnetic on heating	- align="center" bgcolor="#9966FF"	Major varieties		-		-

Pentlandite is an iron-nickel sulfide, (Fe,Ni)₉S₈. Pentlandite usually has a Ni:Fe ratio of close to 1:1. It also contains minor cobalt. It is named after the Irish scientist Joseph Barclay Pentland (1797-1873), who first noted the mineral.

Pentlandite forms isometric crystals, but is normally found in massive granular aggregates. It is brittle with a hardness of 3.5 - 4 and specific gravity of 4.6 - 5.0 and is non-magnetic. It has a yellowish bronze color.

Pentlandite is the chief ore of nickel. It is typically associated with pyrrhotite, niccolite, biotite, millerite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite. A major occurrence of this mineral can be found at the Sudbury deposit in Ontario, Canada.

References and external links

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• Dana's Manual of Mineralogy ISBN 0471032883
• Mineral Galleries: Chromite
• Webmineral.com
• Mindat.org

Iron minerals | Nickel minerals | Sulfide minerals

Pentlandita | Pentlandite | Pentlandite | Pentlanditas | Pentlandiet | Pentlandit