Nickel is silvery-white, hard, malleable, and ductile metal. It is of the iron group and it takes on a high polish. It is a fairly good conductor of heat and electricity. In its familiar compounds nickel is bivalent, although it assumes other valences.

Manganese is an element often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a metal with important industrial metal alloy uses, particularly in stainless steels.