nickel–iron

nickel–iron, very rare native alloy of nickel and iron that contains between 24 and 77 percent nickel. It occurs in the gold washings of the Gorge River, N.Z.; in the platinum sands of the Bobrovka River, Urals; and in the gold dredgings of the Fraser River, B.C. It also occurs in large ellipsoidal masses (some weighing more than 40 kilograms [about 90 pounds]) in Oregon. Nickel–iron also can be of meteoritic origin. Called taenite, it...