Mineral product

“ The mineral products comprise sandstone, granite and other kinds of building stone. Mining for manganese on a large scale has been begun by a European firm, and the iron and lead ores may possibly become profitable. ”

“ It consists of abundant grains of olivine, imperfect octahedra and shapeless granules of magnetite, little simple or twinned prisms of labradorite, and a pale brown augite. The last-named mineral is always the latest product of consolidation, but it varies in habit, being sometimes in ophitic patches moulded upon or enclosing the other minerals, sometimes in small granules occupying the interstices between the felspars and other crystals. ”

“ Mineral products formed by sedimentary processes include sandstones, limestones, and shales, used as building stone and road materials; certain sedimentary deposits of iron, like the Clinton ores of the southeastern United States and the Brazilian ores; important phosphate deposits; most deposits of salt, gypsum, potash, nitrates, etc.; comparatively few and unimportant copper deposits; and important placer deposits of gold, tin, and other metals, and precious stones. With the aid of organic agencies, sedimentary processes also account for the primary deposition of coal and oil. ”

“ With respect to the products of the mines in general and particularly if the term be liberally interpreted, to include all inorganic products of the earth, it may be said that they as a group represent one of the most important of physical factors in the modern progress of nations. Leaving coal entirely aside, it still remains true that the tremendous development of every phase of modern industry, from the cultivation of the soil to the most complex manufacturing process, has become possible only through the constantly increasing employment of mineral products. ”

“ Both common and good table wines are produced.
The mineral products include marble, porphyry, granite, lime, manganese, sulphate of baryta, alum, iron, lignite, and tourmaline. In 1881 335,430 tons of coal were taken from seven pits, and other mines are about to be opened. There are iron, alkaline, thermal, and carbonate of lime springs. ”

“ Minerals.—The mineral resources of the kingdom, though capable of further development, are not rich. They are chiefly confined to the mountains, where iron, coal, copper, lead, zinc, silver and sulphur are mined in small quantities. ”

“ The mineral resources also include nearly every variety required for manufacturing industries. In the production of the two minerals which constitute the basis of modern manufactures, coal and iron, the United States ranks foremost, and, indeed, produces nearly a third of the world's output of each. Moreover, the deposits of these minerals, together with deposits of limestone, which is needed in fluxing the iron ore, are frequently found in the same locality. ”

“ When the miner hoists his ore [1] to the surface, the contained metal may be either in the native uncombined state, as, for example, native gold, native silver, native copper, or combined with other substances forming minerals of more or less complex composition, as, for example, telluride of gold, sulphide of silver, sulphide of copper. In both cases the valuable mineral is always associated with minerals of no value. ”

“ Precious metals (gold, silver, palladium, and platinum) were found mainly in association with such base metals as copper, lead, and zinc. Industrial minerals are represented by a broad range of carbonate and silicate rocks, clays, gravels and sands, and volcanic material. Mineral fuels included coal (lignite) , natural gas, and petroleum.
Until the early 1990s, the mining, processing, and downstream exploitation of base metals established the region as a major European source of copper, lead, and zinc and a major world producer of chromite. ”

“ Which way of proving mines or minerals is far better and speedier than that which is usually done by a decoction and exhalation of lead in the Cupel. Thus may you mix five, six, eight or ten grains of some finely powdered mineral, with one or two lots of Venice glass being of easie fusion, and put the matter thus mixed in a well covered crucible, and by melting it reduce it into glass. The colour which will be in the said glass, will shew what metal the minera contained: Lead will yield a duskish colour, tin, a white, copper, a Sea-green ”

“ For instance, manganese moves from three principal sources to four or five consuming centers. Chromite moves from two principal sources; tungsten also from two. Even for certain commodities which are widely distributed and move in large amounts, the concentration of movement is rather marked; for instance, the world movement of coal is controlled by England, the United States, and Germany. In other words, although the world movement of mineral commodities is widespread and exhibits many complex features, most of the individual minerals follow two or three salient lines of movement. ”

“ When we compare the first and second tabulations with the third it is at once apparent that with the possible although only occasional exception of iron the production of an ore-body from the normal rocks which constitute the outer mass of the earth requires the local concentration of each of the metals by one or several geological processes, and to a degree that is only occasionally developed in the ordinary course of nature. ”

“ For the most part, however, the native metals and ores of the precious and many of the common metals are too widely disseminated in the metamorphic rocks to be of commercial importance, and a still further concentration, principally in fissures and other cavities, is necessary before they can be of value to man. This secondary concentration is much the same as in the case of the deposition of lead and zinc ores in cavities in sedimentary rocks, and results largely from the solution and redeposition, sometimes by replacement, of mineral matter by heated waters. ”

“ In addition to gold, iron, copper, lead, sulphur, and other minerals are found, and are believed to exist in paying quantities. The numerous mineral springs attest their presence in almost every part of the principal islands. ”

“ When a single chemical element is found alone in nature as a solid, it is considered to be a mineral, too. Gold, silver, copper, lead, and sulfur are some of the chemical elements that can occur alone as solid minerals. When they occur this way, we refer to them as native silver, native copper, or native sulfur. Although the element mercury is a liquid rather than a solid at ordinary temperatures, it too is a mineral when it occurs alone in nature. ”

“ Many of the ores of iron and manganese, some of those of other metals, and all coal and salt occur in beds, and here it is important to see what is the thickness, and to ascertain whether the mineral is equally pure throughout. Iron ores occur in most countries, and unless very pure and within easy reach of water-carriage, are not likely to be worth transport. ”

“ The manner in which metallic substances are distributed through the earth's crust, and more especially the phenomena of those nearly vertical and tabular masses of ore called mineral veins, from which the larger part of the precious metals used by man are obtained,—these are subjects of the highest practical importance to the miner, and of no less theoretical interest to the geologist. ”

“ In some countries, especially where vegetation is scanty, the outcrop of a body of mineral may be traced by a difference in the vegetation. In South Africa a chain of pools usually follows the course of a line fault, which in its turn marks where an intrusive lode carrying mineral separates two different formations. As a rule, any heavy mineral is worth investigating. Even in remote regions silver, mercury, tin, nickel, platinum, copper, and several other metals are worth paying attention to. ”

“ All the substances of which the ordinary metals form the basis, are not equally abundant in nature; a great proportion of the numerous mineral species which figure in our classifications, are mere varieties scattered up and down in the cavities of the great masses or lodes. The workable ores are few in number, being mostly sulphurets, some oxides, and carbonates. These occasionally form of themselves very large masses, but more frequently they are blended with lumps of quartz felspar, and carbonate of lime, which form the main body of the deposit; as happens always in proper lodes. ”

“ The industrialist obtains them from various parts of this formation. When a new substance has presented itself, having characters very different from the ordinary rank and file of coals, clay-bands, or fire-clays, its stratigraphical position will help us to determine if it is entitled to a distinct character. If its place be distinct from those of the ordinary coals, if likewise there are indications of a different physical mode of formation, then its claim to be a new mineral will be greatly strengthened. ”

“ The mineralizing ingredient is generally derived from the contiguous rock. In siliceous rocks it is silex. In calcareous rocks it is carbonate of lime. When iron is diffused through a rock, it often becomes the mineralizer. The substituted mineral is generally a very perfect representation of the original fossil. ”

“ By the erosion of the igneous rocks the metals have been distributed among sedimentary strata, and even the sea has taken into solution an appreciable amount of gold and other metals, but in this widely diffused condition they are wholly useless to man. The concentration which has made them available is due to the interaction of many agencies. Earth movements fracturing deeply the rocks of the crust, the intrusion of heated masses, the circulation of underground waters, have all cooperated in the concentration of the metals of mineral veins. ”

“ Its other mineral resources include graphite, copper, zinc, lead, salt, alum, potter's clay, marble and good mill and building stones. Iron-foundries, machine-shops and manufactures of various kinds of iron and steel goods are very numerous. ”

“ On the National Importance of Mineral Possessions, and the Cultivation of Geological Inquiry.
The importance of the metallic ores and other mineral substances, considered as instrumental in the advancement of national prosperity, is obvious to every one. In announcing that a certain country possesses extensive and skilfully worked mines, either of coal, of iron, copper, tin, lead, or other of the numerous ores, we at once proclaim her wealth in terms that all must understand. ”

“ Ores of this type usually contain lead (galena) , zinc (sphalerite) , and iron (pyrite) minerals; many contain manganese and cadmium; some contain cobalt and nickel; but few carry gold, silver, copper, or antimony. Deposits of this type are of world-wide distribution, and many are extensive and commercially important. The greater purity of the ore and the simplicity of treatment (particularly [264] for the ores in the oxidized zones) , caused them to be exploited first and most extensively, and to dominate formerly the world production of lead. ”

“ All the known chemical elements have been found in minerals; and of many of them minerals are the only source. On the other hand, nitrogen, which is frequently present in organic substances, is rare in minerals; carbon has a wide distribution in mineral carbonates. It is estimated that the minerals of the earth's crust consist of about 47% by weight of oxygen, 27 of silicon and 8 of aluminium; silicates, and especially aluminosilicates, therefore predominate, these being the more important rock-forming minerals. ”

“ Mineral Resources.—Transvaal yields to no other African region in the abundance of its mineral resources, while it is altogether un rivalled in their extraordinary variety. These include, besides the precious metals and diamonds, iron, copper, lead, cobalt, sulphur, saltpetre, and coal, this last with gold, copper, and iron being probably the most abundant and widely distributed. ”

“ While it is not easy to define the limits of water's use as a mineral resource, it is clear that even with a narrow interpretation the total tonnage extracted from the earth as a mineral resource exceeds in amount all other mineral resources combined. ”

“ Sufficient has been advanced to warrant the additional assertion that we are here everywhere surrounded by this incomparable mineral, that it is brought to the surface from its deposits deep in the earth by the natural process in mining, and is only exceeded in quantity by the coal itself. Taking a columnar section of our coal field, and computing the thickness of each shale stratum, we have from twenty-five to sixty feet in thickness of this metal-bearing substance, which averages over twenty-five per cent. ”

“ On the other hand, we include in the rock category high purity sandstone that is composed almost entirely of one mineral (quartz) and high purity limestone that is composed largely of the mineral calcite.
MINERALS
A few minerals are composed of only one element, such as diamond (carbon) and native copper, but most minerals are chemical compounds that contain several elements.
Most minerals grow into distinctive shapes if they are free to grow. A familiar example is the formation of salt crystals that grow on a saucer of evaporating salt water. ”

“ Mineral Discovery.—An extraordinary mineral, pronounced by geologists to be pure tripoli, has been discovered in this country, and is now being manufactured by a company formed for that purpose. For cleaning the surface of glass, or removing the oxide from metals, it is certainly without an equal. ”

“ A mineral is characterized by a constancy of composition and of properties which sets it apart from rocks which vary widely. Minerals may be metallic, like pyrite, or non-metallic, like barite; they may be ore, like galena, or rock-forming, like quartz or feldspar; they may show crystal faces, or they may be fragments with rounded or broken surfaces. A favored definition teaches that “a mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic substance having a definite chemical composition and definite physical properties, within limits.” ”