Page 39 - Introduction to Mineral Exploration

22 A.M. EVANS

Steel making. Over 1 Mt p.a. is used for industrial Mercury production Electrical insulator, furnace windows, wallpaper, paints, Molybdenum production whitewares, glazes Nickel production Insulation board, plaster, Catalysts, electrical industry, jewellery detergents, animal Ladle linings in steel About 95% goes into fertilizer manufacture, rest for soaps, glass,

Major uses mineral purposes plasterboard Container glass, concrete Fertilizer (90%), feedstuffs mills, ceramics, insecticides ceramics, etc.

Remarks Most important ferro-alloy metal Marketed as sheet or ground mica Mined as the principal metal or as a byproduct Composed of nepheline, albite and microcline A volcanic glass that expands on heating Several other PGM minerals may be present in ores

Supergene X X X X X X X X

Primary X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

% Metal 63 50 64 62 86 60 26 28(max) <20 ≈100 57 variable variable 18 = P

Mineral formulae MnO 2 (BaMn)Mn 4 O 8 (OH) 2 Mn 7 SiO 12 MnO.OH HgS KAl 2 (AlSi 3 O 10 )(OH) 2 KMg 3 (AlSi 3 O 10 )(F,OH) 2 MoS 2 PbMoO 4 (Fe,Ni) 9 S 8 (Ni,Mg) 3 Si 2 O 5 (OH) 4 Rhyolitic composition PtAs 2 (Pt,Pd,Ni)S (Ru,Ir,Os)S 2 Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 (F,OH) Al 2 Si 4 O 11 .H 2 O KCl KCl.MgCl 2 .6H 2 O 4KCl.4MgSO 4 .11H 2 O K 2 SO 4 .2MgSO 4

(continued) Pt

TABLE 2.1 Commodity and principal ore minerals Manganese pyrolusite psilomenane braunite manganite Mercury cinnabar Mica muscovite phlogopite Molybdenum molybdenite wulfenite Nepheline–syenite and sheet Nickel pentlandite garnierite Perlite PGM nat. platinum sperrylite braggite laurite Phosphate rock apatite Pyrophyllite Potash sylvite carnallite kainite langbeinite