Mineral Resources:
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Mineral resources are essential natural occurring materials or commodity found on or in the earth in such small amounts which are mined for their potential uses or their intrinsic values.
Types:
Metallic resources are things like Gold, Silver, Tin, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Iron,Nickel, Chromium, and Aluminum. Nonmetallic resources are things like sand, gravel, gypsum, halite, Uranium, dimension stone. A mineral resource is a volume of rock enriched in one or more useful materials.
Minerals:
“A mineral is an element or chemical compound that is normally crystalline and that has been formed as a result of geological processes” (Nickel, E. H., 1995). “Minerals are naturally-occurring inorganic substances with a definite and predictable chemical composition and physical properties.”
Example Of A Mineral:
Other common elements in silicate minerals correspond to other common elements in the Earth’s crust, such aluminium, magnesium, iron, calcium, sodium, andpotassium. Some important rock-forming silicates include the feldspars, quartz,olivines, pyroxenes, amphiboles, garnets, and micas.
Mineral resources classification
- Metallic Mineral Resources
- Nonmetallic Mineral Resource
- Fuel Mineral Resource
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1. Metallic mineral resources: These are minerals resources that contain metal in raw form, their appearances have metallic shine and they can be melted to obtain new products.
Examples: Gold, Silver, Copper, Tin, Iron, Lead, Zinc, Nickel, Chromium, and Aluminium.
2. Nonmetallic mineral resources: These are minerals that do not contain extractable metals in their chemical composition; they contain nonmetallic shine or lustre in their appearance.
Examples: sand, stone, gravel, clay, gypsum halite, and Uranium
3. Fuel mineral resource: These are the basic mineral resources in the world. These are primarily gotten from the remains of dead plant and animal, they are often referred to as fossil fuels and are formed from hydrocarbon.
Examples: fossil fuels such as coal, crude oil (petroleum) and natural gas.
Types Of Mineral Resources & Its Uses
| Types of Mineral Resources | Uses |
|---|---|
| Fuel/Crude oil | crude oil which is popularly known as petroleum, is a liquid found within the Earth comprised of hydrocarbons, organic compounds and small amounts of metal |
| Coal | coal is a sedimentary/metamorphic rock produced in swamps where there is a large-scale accumulation of organic matter from plants. As plants die, they decay and accumulate to first become peat |
| Natural gas | natural gas is derived from marine plants and animals |
| Gold | gold is also used in dentistry, medicine, coins, and applications for the aerospace industry. |
| Silver | it is used for different things and it is very bright, durable and easy to work with. Silver also is substantially cheaper than gold or platinum. |
| Platinum | Platinum is the traditional metal for heirloom-quality jewelry. It's a natural partner for a fine white diamond |
| Lead | it’s used especially in X-ray and gamma radiation shielding, pipes, cable sheaths, batteries, solder, and shields against radioactivity, ceramics, weights, and ammunition. |
| Gypsum | it is used for making cement, plaster of Paris, fertilizer, wallboard, and glass. |
| Tin | It is used in containers, as a protective coating, in tinfoil, and in soft solders and alloys. |
| Copper | it is used to make coins, brass instruments, pipes and fungicides, it is also a good conductor of electricity which is why it’s used for electrical wiring in our homes. |
| Aluminium | it is used in smartphones, tablets, laptops, and flat screen TV. However, because of its strength and weight ratio, Aluminium is used in a huge variety of products including pots, pans, basins, cans, rail constructions, zinc, foils, kitchen utensils, window frames, and aeroplane parts |
| Gravel | Gravel is used for various constructions and mostly it’s often used for making construction materials such as concrete blocks, bricks, pipes, mixing with asphalt and as construction fill. |
| Sand | It is used in sandbags, for construction or to line the floors of arenas and other surfaces, for playgrounds and hosts of other uses. |
State Wise:
The principal minerals produced in the State were coal, natural gas (utilised), iron ore, limestone, petroleum (crude), baryites and which together accounted for 53.32% of total value of mineral production in the State during the year 2010-11
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Indian States in Mineral Wealth:
| Mineral/ Metal/ Non Metal | State |
|---|---|
| Coal | Jharkhand |
| Bauxite (Aluminium Ore) | |
| Chromite (Chromium Ore) | Odisha |
| Iron Ore | |
| Manganese | |
| Lead & Zinc | Rajasthan |
| Calcite (Source of Marble | |
| Gypsum (used in fertilizer, plaster of Paris etc.) | |
| Asbestos | Andhra Pradesh |
| Limestone | |
| Mica | |
| Barytes (used as weighing agents for drilling fluids in oil & gas exploration, barium is used in CT Scan) | |
| Diamond | Madhya Pradesh |
| Copper Ore | |
| Gold | Karnataka |
| Corundum (source of ruby, sapphire) | Maharashtra |
| Rock Salt | Himachal Pradesh |
| Crude Oil | Gujarat |
| Natural Gas | Assam / Nagaland |
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