Minerals are the formations of the earth's crust, consisting of minerals, the chemical and physical properties of which allow them to be used in the industrial and domestic sphere. Without the variety of substances that the Earth is rich in, our world would not have been so diverse and developed. Technological progress would be unattainable and prohibitively complex. Consider the concept, types of minerals and their characteristics.
Related concepts and terms
Before analyzing the types of minerals, you need to know the specific definitions related to this topic. It will be easier and easier to deal with everything. So, minerals are mineral raw materials or the formation of the earth's crust, which can be of organic or inorganic origin and used in the production of material objects.
Mineral deposits are called the accumulation of a certain amount of mineral matter on the surface or in the bowels of the Earth, which are divided into categories depending on the field of application in industry.
Ore is called a mineral formation that arose under natural conditions and consisting of such components and in such a ratio that its use is possible and appropriate for the industrial and technical sphere.
When did you start mining?
It is not known exactly when the first mining took place. According to historians, the ancient Egyptians opened the veil. The expedition was sent to the Sinai Peninsula in 2600 BC. They were supposed to get mica. However, there was a breakthrough in the knowledge of the ancient inhabitants about raw materials: copper was found. The extraction and processing of silver is known from the history of Greece. The Romans learned about metals such as zinc, iron, tin, and lead. Having established mines from Africa to Britain, the Roman Empire mined them and then used them to make tools.
In the eighteenth century, after the industrial revolution, minerals became urgently needed. In this connection, their production was developing rapidly. Modern technology is based on the discoveries of that period. In the XIX century, the famous "gold rush" occurred, during which a huge amount was mined precious metal - gold. In the same places (South Africa), several diamond deposits were discovered.
Description of minerals by physical condition
From physics lessons it is known that substances are able to be in one of four aggregate states: liquid, solid, gaseous and plasma. In ordinary life, everyone can easily observe the first three. Minerals, like any other chemical compounds, can be found on the surface of the Earth or in its bowels in one of three states. Thus, the types of minerals are primarily divided into:
- liquid (mineral water, oil);
- solid (metals, coals, ores);
- gaseous (natural gas, inert gas).
Each of the groups is an important and integral part of industrial life. The diversity of resources allows countries to develop in the technical and economic sphere. The number of mineral deposits is an indicator of the country's wealth and well-being.
Industrial types, classification of minerals
After discovering the first mineral rocks, a person seriously thought about what benefits they can bring to his life.With the emergence and development of industry, a classification of mineral deposits was formed on the basis of their use in the technical field. Consider these types of minerals. The table contains complete information about their characteristics:
| Type of mineral deposit | Groups in its composition | Types of fossils |
| Combustible (fuel) | Solid state | Peat, coal |
| Liquid / gaseous state | Gas, oil | |
| Metal | Ferrous metals | Manganese, chromium, titanium, iron |
| Non-ferrous metals | Lead, copper, cobalt, aluminum, nickel | |
| Noble metals | Platinum, Gold, Silver | |
| Rare metals | Tin, Tantalum, Tungsten, Niobium, Molybdenum | |
| Radioactive compounds | Thorium, Radium, Uranium | |
| Non-metallic | Mining raw materials | Mica, magnesite, talc, limestone, graphite, clay, sands |
| Chemical raw materials | Fluorite, phosphorite, barite, mineral salts | |
| Construction Materials | Marble, gypsum, gravel and sand, clay, facing stones, cement raw materials | |
| Gem stones | Precious and ornamental stones |
The considered types of minerals together with fresh water reserves are the main characteristic of the wealth of the land or a single country. This is a typical gradation of mineral resources, with the help of which all natural substances used in the industrial and domestic sphere are grouped according to their physical and chemical properties. We will get to know each category separately.
Fossil fuels
What kind of minerals does oil belong to? What about gas? Minerals often appear to be solid metal, rather than obscure liquid or gas. They are familiar with metal from early childhood, while understanding what oil or even household gas is comes a bit later. So, to what type, according to the classifications already studied, should oil and gas be attributed? Oil - to a group of liquid substances, gas - to gaseous. Based on their application, it is unambiguous to fuels or, in other words, to fuel minerals. After all, oil and gas are used primarily as a source of energy and heat: the engines of machines work on them, they heat the living quarters, and with their help they cook food. Energy itself is released by burning fuel. And if you look even deeper, this is facilitated by carbon, which is included in all combustible minerals. What kind of minerals oil refers to, sorted out.
What other substances belong here? These are solid fuel compounds formed in nature: coal and lignite, peat, anthracite, oil shale. Consider a brief description of them. Types of minerals (combustible):
- coal is the first fuel that people began to use. The main source of energy used on a large scale in production, it was thanks to this fossil that the industrial revolution took place. It is formed due to plant debris without air access. Depending on the specific gravity of carbon in coal, its varieties are distinguished: anthracites, brown and hard coal, graphites;
- oil shale was formed at the bottom of the sea about 450 million years ago from the remains of vegetation and animals. Consists of mineral and organic parts. When dry distilled forms a resin that is close to oil;
- peat - accumulation of incompletely decomposed plant residues in the conditions of swamps, more than half of its composition is carbon. It is used as fuel, fertilizer, thermal insulation.
Combustible natural substances are the most important types of minerals. Thanks to them, humanity has learned to generate and use energy, and has also created many industries. Currently, the need for fuel minerals is very acute for most states. This is a large segment of the global economy, on which the well-being of countries around the world depends.
Metallic minerals: types, characteristics
We know the types of minerals: fuel, ore, non-metallic. The first group has been successfully studied. Moving on - ore, or metal, minerals - that is why industry was generally born and developed. Since ancient times, man realized that metal provides much more opportunities in everyday life than its absence. In the modern world, it is already impossible to imagine life without any metal. In household appliances and electronics, in homes, in the bathroom, even in a small light bulb - it is everywhere.
How is it mined? Only noble metals, which due to their chemical properties do not react with other simple and complex substances, can be found in pure form. The rest are actively interacting with each other, turning into ore. A mixture of metals, if necessary, separated or left unchanged. Alloys formed by nature have “taken root” due to mixed properties. Iron, for example, can be made harder by adding carbon to the metal to make steel — a strong joint that can withstand heavy loads.
Depending on individual characteristics, as well as the scope of application, ore minerals are divided into groups: ferrous, non-ferrous, noble, rare and radioactive metals.
Black metals
Ferrous metals are iron and its various alloys: steel, cast iron and other ferroalloys. It is used in the production of the most diverse areas: military, shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing, mechanical engineering.
Many iron products are used in everyday life: kitchen utensils are made of steel, many elements of plumbing are covered with it.
Non-ferrous metals
The non-ferrous metal group includes a large number of minerals. The name of the group comes from the fact that many metals have a specific color. For example, copper is red, aluminum is silver. The remaining 3 types of minerals (noble, rare, radioactive), in fact, are a subspecies of non-ferrous metals. Many of them are mixed into alloys, because in this form they have the best properties.
Non-ferrous metals are classified into:
- heavy - highly toxic with a large atomic weight: lead, tin, copper, zinc;
- lungs with low density and weight: magnesium, titanium, aluminum, calcium, lithium, sodium, rubidium, strontium, cesium, beryllium, barium, potassium;
- noble due to their high resistance practically do not enter into chemical reactions, they are beautiful in appearance: platinum, silver, gold, rhodium, palladium, ruthenium, osmium;
- small (rare) - antimony, mercury, cobalt, cadmium, arsenic, bismuth;
- refractory ones have a high melting point and wear resistance: molybdenum, tantalum, vanadium, tungsten, manganese, chromium, zirconium, niobium;
- rare earths - the group consists of 17 elements: samarium, neodymium, lanthanum, cerium, europium, terbium, gadolinium, dysprosium, erbium, holmium, ytterbium, lutetium, scandium, yttrium, thulium, promethium, terbium;
- scattered occur in nature only in the form of impurities: tellurium, thallium, indium, germanium, rhenium, hafnium, selenium;
- radioactive particles themselves emit a stream of radioactive particles: radium, plutonium, uranium, protactinium, California, fermium, americium and others.
Of particular importance to mankind are aluminum, nickel and copper. The developed countries tend to increase their production, because the amount of these non-ferrous metals directly affects technological progress in the aircraft industry, astronautics, atomic and microscopic instruments, and electrical engineering.
Non-metallic natural elements
To summarize a short summary. The main categories from the table “Types of minerals” (fuel, ore, non-metallic) are studied. What elements are classified as non-metallic, i.e. non-metallic? This is a group of hard or soft minerals found in the form of individual minerals or rocks.Modern science knows more than a hundred of such chemical compounds, which are nothing more than a product of natural processes.
In terms of the scale of their extraction and use, non-metallic minerals are ahead of only fuel types of minerals. The table below contains the main rocks and minerals that make up the non-metallic group of natural resources, and their brief description.
| Group of non-metallic minerals / rocks | Type of rock / mineral | Characteristic |
| Mining raw materials | Asbestos | Fireproof rock. They are used for the manufacture of fire-resistant materials, roofs, and fire-fighting fabrics. |
| Limestone | Sedimentary rock, widely used in construction. When it is fired, quicklime is obtained. | |
| Mica | Rock-forming mineral. The chemical composition is divided into aluminum, magnesia-iron lithium mica. It is used in modern technology. | |
| Chemical raw materials | Potassium salts | Sedimentary rocks, which include potassium. It is used as a raw material for the chemical industry and in the manufacture of potash fertilizers. |
| Apatite | Minerals containing a large amount of phosphoric salts. Used for the manufacture of fertilizers, as well as in the production of ceramics. | |
| Sulfur | It occurs in the form of ore of native sulfur and in compounds. It is used mainly for the production of sulfuric acid, in the vulcanization of rubber. | |
| Construction Materials | Gypsum | Sulphate mineral. It is used in various fields of human activity. |
| Marble | Calcite based rock. Used in electrical engineering, for the manufacture of plaster and mosaics, monuments. | |
| Gem stones | Precious | They have a beautiful pattern or color, shine, and are easy to polish and cut. They are used for the manufacture of jewelry and other decor. |
| Semiprecious | ||
| Ornamental |
Non-metallic types of minerals are very important for various industries, construction, and also necessary in everyday life.
Exhaustibility classification of resources
In addition to the gradation of minerals by their physical condition and characteristics, indicators of their exhaustibility and renewability are also considered. The main types of minerals are divided into:
- exhaustible, which at some point may end and will be inaccessible to production;
- inexhaustible - relatively inexhaustible sources of natural resources, for example, solar and wind energy, oceans, seas;
- renewable - minerals that at a certain level of exhaustibility can be partially or fully restored, for example, forests, soil, water;
- non-renewable - if the resources were completely exhausted, as a rule, they cannot be renewed;
- interchangeable - fossils that can be replaced if necessary, for example, fuel types.
- irreplaceable - those without which life will be impossible (air).
Natural resources require careful management and rational use, since most of them have an exhaustible limit, and if they are renewable, then very soon.
Minerals play an important role in human life. Without them, there would have been no technical and scientific discoveries, and indeed a familiar life in general. The results of their extraction and processing surround us everywhere: buildings, transport, household goods, medicines.
