Carbide minerals

Moissanite () is naturally occurring silicon carbide and its various crystalline polymorphs. It has the chemical formula SiC and is a rare mineral, discovered by the French chemist Henri Moissan in 1893. Silicon carbide or moissanite is useful for commercial and industrial applications due to its hardness, optical properties, and thermal conductivity.

Cohenite is a naturally occurring iron carbide mineral with the chemical structure (Fe, Ni, Co)3C. This forms a hard, shiny, silver mineral which was named by E. Weinschenk in 1889 after the German mineralogist Emil Cohen, who first described and analysed material from the Magura meteorite found near Slanica, Žilina Region, Slovakia. Cohenite is found in rod-like crystals in iron meteorites.

Haxonite is an iron nickel carbide mineral found in iron meteorites and carbonaceous chondrites. It has a chemical formula of , crystallises in the cubic crystal system and has a Mohs hardness of - 6.

Tantalcarbide is a rare mineral of tantalum carbide with formula TaC. With a molecular weight of 192.96 g/mol, its primary constituents are tantalum (93.78%) and carbon (6.22%), and has an isometric crystal system. It generally exhibits a bronze or brown to yellow color. On the Mohs hardness scale it registers as a 6–7. Tantalcarbide is generally found in a granular state. It is extremely dense at 14.6 g/cm^3. Sub-conchoidal fracturing is exhibited.

Tongbaite is a rare mineral that has the chemical formula Cr3C2, or chromium carbide.

Qusongite is an extremely rare mineral with the simple formula WC, which shows the mineral to be a naturally occurring tungsten carbide. It was found in Luobusa ophiolite, China. This ophiolite is known for many natural reduced compounds, including native metals, diamond, silicides and carbides (e.g., moissanite, natural silicon carbide). Qusongite crystallizes in the hexagonal system, with space group P-6m2.

Edscottite is an iron carbide mineral, with the formula Fe5C2. It was previously known to occur during iron smelting, but in 2019 was identified as occurring in nature, but not naturally occurring on Earth, when it was discovered in a meteorite.