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
Southeast Missouri Lead District sphalerite, and chalcopyrite. Gangue minerals associated with the economic minerals include pyrite, calcite, dolomite, and quartz. Specimens from the Lead Belt are highly prized by gem and mineral collectors and are found in museums worldwide. The ore minerals of the Lead Belt are primarily hosted by bacterial stromatolite reefs and associated oolitic rocks of the dolomitic Bonneterre Formation. This Cambrian age formation was deposited in a shallow sea around the Precambrian age St. Francois Mountains, which formed an island archipelago. Ore mineralization most likely occurred during the late Pennsylvanian and/or Permian periods when warm metal and petroleum bearing fluids from