Native metal

A native metal is a mineral that is a metal or an alloy. Gold and silver are probably the two most well-known native metals, but there are others. Native metals are normally rare because most metals oxidize easily and because of that are found in ores. There are two main groups of native metals. One includes lead, copper, mercury, gold, and silver. The other group includes platinum, iridium, osmium, palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium. Some meteorites have iron-nickel alloy in them. Some other metals like cadmium have been found native, but only in one place and in very small amounts.