What makes a mineral deposit an ore?
An “ore deposit” is a mineral deposit which has high enough grades of metal that makes it economic to mine. While natural processes lead to local concentration of metal minerals, metals are distributed throughout the earth, even in seawater and organisms, including our own bodies.
What characteristics make a mineral an ore mineral?
What makes a mineral an ore? The mineral must be useful and profitable.
What defines a mineral deposit?
We define mineral deposits as natural accumulations of minerals in the earth crust, in form of one or several mineral bodies which can be extracted at the present time or in an immediate future. Mineral deposits include several different types related to magmatic, hydrothermal, sedimentary and metamorphic processes.
Are all minerals deposits ores?
All ore deposits are mineral deposits, but the reverse is not true. Ore deposit is an economic term, while mineral deposit is a geologic term.
What are the examples of mineral ore?
Ores are minerals that have a high concentration of a certain element, typically a metal. Examples are cinnabar (HgS), an ore of mercury, sphalerite (ZnS), an ore of zinc, or cassiterite (SnO2), an ore of tin (Mineral).
What is difference between mineral and ore?
Minerals are naturally occurring inorganic solids with a crystalline structure and a definite range of chemical formula. Ores are concentrations of minerals in rock that are high enough to be economically extracted for use. All ores are minerals, but all minerals are not necessarily ores.
Which is the best definition of a mineral deposit?
What is a Mineral Deposit by Definition. An ore is defined as a mineral or rock from which some valuable constituent, usually a metal, can be profitably extracted. Thus hematite and magnetite are ores of iron; galena is an ore of lead; zinc blende is an ore of zinc.
Which is a characteristic of an ore deposit?
Therefore, ore deposits by definition form only where geological processes concentrate elements into ore minerals, and then concentrate the latter again into a single, and limited, location. The concentration of the element or compound of interest in an ore is referred to as the gradeof a deposit.
What can be mined from an ore deposit?
• Houses • Cars • Toothpaste • Plumbing • Wiring • Planes • Electronics • Jewelry • Glass If we can’t grow it, it has to be mined! 11 Prof. Dr. H.Z. Harraz Presentation Mining Geology, Introduction 2 February 2016
How are ore deposits separated from host rock?
In other cases, the ore deposits (or more precisely ore minerals) may be present in an enclosing rock, called the country rock or the host rock. In such cases, the host rock itself is removed in the first stage of mining. The ore minerals are then separated at the second stage of exploitation.