It is light blue to bright green in colour, has a hardness of 2.5, a vitreous luster, a white streak and crystallises in the monoclinic system.

The solid consists of [Ni2(CO3)2(H2O)8] subunits with an extra pair of water of hydration.

Hellyerite forms in this environment in nickel rich serpentinites, which are metamorphosed equivalents of ultramafic cumulate rocks such as peridotite and dunite.

It was first identified in 1958 in the Old Lord Brassy mine,[6] Tasmania, Australia and named after Henry Hellyer (1791–1832), Chief Surveyor of the Van Diemens Land Company.

[3] It is also reported from the Pafuri nickel deposit in Limpopo Province, South Africa.