Native metal brass, bronze, pewter, German silver, osmiridium, electrum, white gold, and silver-mercury and gold-mercury amalgam. Only gold, silver, copper and the platinum metals occur in nature in large amounts. Over geological time scales, very few metals can resist natural weathering processes like oxidation, which is why generally only the less reactive metals such as gold and platinum are found as native metals. The others usually occur as isolated pockets where a natural chemical process reduces a common compound or ore of the metal, leaving the pure metal behind as small flakes or inclusions. Non-metallic elements occurring in the native state include
Ore shoot Ore shoot In mining and geology, an ore shoot is a long seam of mineral or metal bearing rock that can be profitable to extract. The term may have originated in the 17th and 18th centuries when various theories existed on the origins of ore deposits, including some that suggested they grew like trees. Tabular or sheet-like deposits of metalliferous ores often contain areas of enhanced metal content that are larger in one dimension than another. A structure may contain multiple ore shoots. A "vein," "lode" or other mineral-bearing structure could be thick, steeply inclined within the host rock, persisting