Garnierite

garnierite (gär`nēərīt'), pale apple-green mineral, chemically a hydrous silicate of nickel and magnesium. An important ore of nickel, it is found in New Caledonia, Russia, and S Africa. In the United States it occurs in Oregon and North Carolina.

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garnierite [′gär·nē·ə‚rīt]

(mineralogy)

(Ni,Mg)₃Si₂O₅(OH)₄An apple-green or pale-green, monoclinic serpentine; a gemstone and an ore of nickel. Also known as nepuite; noumeite.

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Garnierite 

(named for the French geologist J. Garnier, 1839-1904; also called noumeite), a nickel silicate mineral of complex and variable chemical composition. It is found in the form of soft accumulations and cryptocrystalline aggregates. The color varies from greenish yellow to deep green, depending on dispersion and impurities (MgO, A1₂0₃, and Fe₂0₃). Its hardness on the mineralogical scale is 2-2.5, and its density is 2,270 to 2,870 km/m³. Garnierite is formed in the weathering crust as a result of the breakdown of olivine and serpentine rocks that are rich in nickel. It is a component of nickel-silicate ores, which are being intensively worked for the extraction of nickel. Deposits are known in the USSR (in the Urals and in Kazakhstan) and on the island of New Caledonia.