English: Native bismuth from the Late Paleozoic of Australia. (1.7 centimeters across at its widest)

A mineral is a naturally-occurring, solid, inorganic, crystalline substance having a fairly definite chemical composition and having fairly definite physical properties. At its simplest, a mineral is a naturally-occurring solid chemical. Currently, there are over 5600 named and described minerals - about 200 of them are common and about 20 of them are very common. Mineral classification is based on anion chemistry. Major categories of minerals are: elements, sulfides, oxides, halides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, and silicates.

Elements are fundamental substances of matter - matter that is composed of the same types of atoms. At present, 118 elements are known. Of these, 98 occur naturally on Earth (hydrogen to californium). Most of these occur in rocks & minerals, although some occur in very small, trace amounts. Only some elements occur in their native elemental state as minerals.

To find a native element in nature, it must be relatively non-reactive and there must be some concentration process. Metallic, semimetallic (metalloid), and nonmetallic elements are known in their native state as minerals.

Bismuth is a semimetal/metalloid that occurs as a native element. It has a metallic luster, bright silvery color & streak, is soft (H=2 to 2.5), has one cleavage plane, and is relatively fragile/brittle. This is the principal ore mineral for bismuth.

The native bismuth sample seen here is from Wolfram Camp in Australia. At this site, bismuth occurs in a quartz-rich molybdenite-wolframite-bismuth pipe hosted in altered roof zone rocks of the Elizabeth Creek Granite. The granite body contains pinkish monzogranites of Pennsylvanian to Early Permian age.

Locality: Wolfram Camp, east of Bullaburrah Creek & west-northwest of Dimbulah & west-southwest of Cairns, northern Queensland, northeastern Australia