  When high quality bismuth or graphite crystals are placed in a magnetic field
directed along the c-axis (trigonal axis for bismuth) and the temperature is
lowered, the resistance increases as it does in an insulator but then
saturates. We show that the combination of unusual features specific to
semimetals, i.e., low carrier density, small effective mass, high purity, and
an equal number of electrons and holes (compensation), gives rise to a unique
ordering and spacing of three characteristic energy scales, which not only is
specific to semimetals but which concomitantly provides a wide window for the
observation of apparent field induced metal-insulator behavior. Using
magnetotransport and Hall measurements, the details of this unusual behavior
are captured with a conventional multi-band model, thus confirming the
occupation by semimetals of a unique niche between conventional metals and
semiconductors.
