Minerals and Ores: Natural materials

The Earth’s is the main source of minerals and ores. Most of the elements do not found Free State because of their reactive tendencies. Potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, aluminium, zinc, iron, lead etc are the metals found in combined state. Minerals are the natural materials in which the metals and their compounds are found in earth.

These ores contain good percentage of metal. Hence, we can say all minerals are not ores but all ores are the minerals.

Abundances of the metals in the Earth's Crust

Aluminium is the most abundant metallic element but iron has played a much greater role in human history and is an essential part of everybody, literally! Iron is one of 94 naturally occurring elements. It is a metallic material with a silver-grey colour and metallic lustre. Its Atomic Number is 26 and its symbol is Fe. Iron is found in all parts of the planet. It comprises about 5% of the Earth’s crust but is thought to make up perhaps as much as 80% of the planets core. There are four naturally occurring stable isotopes of iron with at least four unstable isotopes also known to exist.

Characteristics of a mineral

• It must occur naturally.
• It must be inorganic
• It must be a solid
• It must possess an orderly internal structure, that is, its atoms must be arranged in a definite pattern.
• It must have a definite chemical composition that may vary within specified limits."

Ores

Ores are those minerals from which metal are extracted conveniently and profitably.

Types of Ores

There are mainly four types of ores such as Oxides; Carbonate Ores; Sulphide; Halides Ores.

Ores and Methods of Extraction of some Common Metals