"other countries, was 849m tonnes in 2004. Australia and Brazil dominate the seaborne trade, with 72% of the market. BHP, Rio and Vale control 66% of this market between them. In Australia iron ore is won from three main sources: pisolite ""channel iron deposit"" ore derived by mechanical erosion of primary banded-iron formations and accumulated in alluvial channels such as at Pannawonica, Western Australia; and the dominant metasomatically-altered banded iron formation related ores such as at Newman, the Chichester Range, the Hamersley Range and Koolyanobbing, Western Australia. Other types of ore are coming to the fore recently, such as oxidised"
"clay, especially Armenian bole, have been used in gilding. Hematite is also used in art such as in the creation of intaglio engraved gems. Hematine is a synthetic material sold as ""magnetic hematite"". Hematite Hematite, also spelled as haematite, is the mineral form of iron(III) oxide (FeO), one of several iron oxides. It is the oldest known iron oxide mineral that has ever formed on earth, and is widespread in rocks and soils. Hematite crystallizes in the rhombohedral lattice system, and it has the same crystal structure as ilmenite and corundum. Hematite and ilmenite form a complete solid solution at"
"Wolframite Wolframite, (Fe,Mn)WO, is an iron manganese tungstate mineral that is the intermediate between ferberite (Fe rich) and hübnerite (Mn rich). Along with scheelite, the wolframite series are the most important tungsten ore minerals. Wolframite is found in quartz veins and pegmatites associated with granitic intrusives. Associated minerals include cassiterite, scheelite, bismuth, quartz, pyrite, galena, sphalerite, and arsenopyrite. This mineral was historically found in Europe in Bohemia, Saxony, and Cornwall. China reportedly has the world's largest supply of tungsten ore with about 60%. Other producers are Canada, Portugal, Russia, Australia, Thailand, South Korea, Rwanda, Bolivia, the United States, and the"
"Limonite Limonite () is an iron ore consisting of a mixture of hydrated iron(III) oxide-hydroxides in varying composition. The generic formula is frequently written as FeO(OH)·HO, although this is not entirely accurate as the ratio of oxide to hydroxide can vary quite widely. Limonite is one of the three principal iron ores, the others being hematite and magnetite, and has been mined for the production of iron since at least 2500 BCE. Limonite is named for the Greek word (/leː.mɔ̌ːn/), meaning ""wet meadow"", or (/lím.nɛː/), meaning “marshy lake” as an allusion to its occurrence as bog iron ore in meadows"
"haematite, or rarely as carbonate minerals. Violarite is reported widely from the oxidised regolith above primary nickel sulfide ore systems worldwide. It is of particular note from the Mount Keith dunite body, Western Australia, where it forms an important ore mineral. It is also reported from open cast mines around the Kambalda Dome, and Widgiemooltha Dome, in association with polydymite, gaspeite, widgiemoolthalite and hellyerite, among other supergene nickel minerals. Violarite is an important transitional ore in many nickel sulfide mines, as it has increased nickel tenor (Ni% as a total of sulfide)and occupies a position within the mineralised profile where"
"readily distinguishable by its strong magnetism, which occurs as it has iron in two oxidation states (FeFeO), which makes it a multiple oxide instead of a single oxide. The halide minerals are compounds in which a halogen (fluorine, chlorine, iodine, or bromine) is the main anion. These minerals tend to be soft, weak, brittle, and water-soluble. Common examples of halides include halite (NaCl, table salt), sylvite (KCl), fluorite (CaF). Halite and sylvite commonly form as evaporites, and can be dominant minerals in chemical sedimentary rocks. Cryolite, NaAlF, is a key mineral in the extraction of aluminium from bauxites; however, as"
"ore of titanium; other examples include cassiterite (SnO; ore of tin), and pyrolusite (MnO; ore of manganese). In hydroxides, the dominant anion is the hydroxyl ion, OH. Bauxites are the chief aluminium ore, and are a heterogeneous mixture of the hydroxide minerals diaspore, gibbsite, and bohmite; they form in areas with a very high rate of chemical weathering (mainly tropical conditions). Finally, multiple oxides are compounds of two metals with oxygen. A major group within this class are the spinels, with a general formula of XYO. Examples of species include spinel (MgAlO), chromite (FeCrO), and magnetite (FeO). The latter is"
"magnetite), ""iron rose"" and ""specularite"" (specular hematite). While the forms of hematite vary, they all have a rust-red streak. Hematite is harder than pure iron, but much more brittle. Maghemite is a hematite- and magnetite-related oxide mineral. Huge deposits of hematite are found in banded iron formations. Gray hematite is typically found in places that can have still standing water or mineral hot springs, such as those in Yellowstone National Park in North America. The mineral can precipitate out of water and collect in layers at the bottom of a lake, spring, or other standing water. Hematite can also occur"
"Bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO(OH)), mixed with the two iron oxides goethite and haematite, the aluminium clay mineral kaolinite and small amounts of anatase (TiO) and ilmenite (FeTiO or FeO.TiO). In 1821 the French geologist Pierre Berthier discovered bauxite near the village of Les Baux in Provence, southern France. Numerous classification schemes have been proposed for bauxite but, , there was no consensus. Vadász (1951) distinguished lateritic bauxites (silicate bauxites) from"
"Boehmite Boehmite or böhmite is an aluminium oxide hydroxide (γ-AlO(OH)) mineral, a component of the aluminium ore bauxite. It is dimorphous with diaspore. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic dipyramidal system and is typically massive in habit. It is white with tints of yellow, green, brown or red due to impurities. It has a vitreous to pearly luster, a Mohs hardness of 3 to 3.5 and a specific gravity of 3.00 to 3.07. It is colorless in thin section, optically biaxial positive with refractive indices of nα = 1.644 - 1.648, nβ = 1.654 - 1.657 and nγ = 1.661 -"
"zircon and 3.3 million tonnes of rutile. Products & Markets The Moma mine produces three main products, Ilmenite, Zircon and Rutile. It is also currently developing plans to produce Monazite. Ilmenite is a common accessory mineral in igneous rocks, sediments, and sedimentary rocks in many parts of the world. Apollo astronauts found abundant ilmenite in lunar rocks and the lunar regolith. Ilmenite is a black iron-titanium oxide with a chemical composition of FeTiO3. Ilmenite is the primary ore of titanium, a metal needed to make a variety of high-performance alloys. Most of the ilmenite mined worldwide is used to manufacture"
"or green. Sphalerite Sphalerite ((Zn, Fe)S) is a mineral that is the chief ore of zinc. It consists largely of zinc sulfide in crystalline form but almost always contains variable iron. When iron content is high it is an opaque black variety, marmatite. It is usually found in association with galena, pyrite, and other sulfides along with calcite, dolomite, and fluorite. Miners have also been known to refer to sphalerite as zinc blende, black-jack and ruby jack. The mineral crystallizes in the cubic crystal system. In the crystal structure, zinc and sulfur atoms are tetrahedrally coordinated. The structure is closely"
"Aenigmatite Aenigmatite, also known as ""Cossyrite"" after Cossyra, the ancient name of Pantelleria, is a sodium, iron, titanium inosilicate mineral. The chemical formula is NaFeTiSiO and its structure consists of single tetrahedral chains with a repeat unit of four and complex side branches. It forms brown to black triclinic lamellar crystals. It has Mohs hardness of 5.5 to 6 and specific gravity of 3.74 to 3.85. Aenigmatite forms a solid-solution series with wilkinsonite, NaFeFeSiO. Aenigmatite is primarily found in peralkaline volcanic rocks, pegmatites, and granites as well as silica-poor intrusive rocks. It was first described by August Breithaupt in 1865"
"Zaratite Zaratite is a bright emerald green nickel carbonate mineral with formula NiCO(OH)·4HO. Zaratite crystallizes in the isometric crystal system as massive to mammillary encrustations and vein fillings. It has a specific gravity of 2.6 and a Mohs hardness of 3 to 3.5. It has no cleavage and is brittle to conchoidal fracture. The luster is vitreous to greasy. It is a rare secondary mineral formed by hydration or alteration of the primary nickel and iron bearing minerals, chromite, pentlandite, pyrrhotite, and millerite, during the serpentinization of ultramafic rocks. Hellyerite, NiCO·6HO, is a related mineral. It was found originally in"
"Sphalerite Sphalerite ((Zn, Fe)S) is a mineral that is the chief ore of zinc. It consists largely of zinc sulfide in crystalline form but almost always contains variable iron. When iron content is high it is an opaque black variety, marmatite. It is usually found in association with galena, pyrite, and other sulfides along with calcite, dolomite, and fluorite. Miners have also been known to refer to sphalerite as zinc blende, black-jack and ruby jack. The mineral crystallizes in the cubic crystal system. In the crystal structure, zinc and sulfur atoms are tetrahedrally coordinated. The structure is closely related to"
"It is named after Bruce Hapke, who predicted the presence and importance of vapor-deposited coatings on lunar soil grains (space weathering). Beside hapkeite, other natural iron silicide minerals include gupeiite, naqite, linzhiite, luobusaite, suessite, xifengite, and zangboite. Hapkeite Hapkeite is a mineral discovered in the Dhofar 280 meteorite found in 2000 in Oman on the Arabian peninsula. The meteorite is believed to originate from the Moon; specifically, it appears to be a fragment of lunar highland breccia. Hapkeite's composition is of silicon and iron, and it is similar to other silicon-iron minerals found on Earth. An impact on the Moon"
"(and not for the German geologist Johannes Böhm (1857–1938) as often stated). Boehmite Boehmite or böhmite is an aluminium oxide hydroxide (γ-AlO(OH)) mineral, a component of the aluminium ore bauxite. It is dimorphous with diaspore. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic dipyramidal system and is typically massive in habit. It is white with tints of yellow, green, brown or red due to impurities. It has a vitreous to pearly luster, a Mohs hardness of 3 to 3.5 and a specific gravity of 3.00 to 3.07. It is colorless in thin section, optically biaxial positive with refractive indices of nα = 1.644"
"an important example of which is maghemite. Another series, the ""titanohematites"", have hematite and ilmenite as their end members, and so are also called ""hemoilmenites"". The crystal structure of hematite is trigonal-hexagonal. It has the same composition as maghemite; to distinguish between them, their chemical formulae are generally given as γ for hematite and α for maghemite. The other important class of strongly magnetic minerals is the iron sulfides, particularly greigite and pyrrhotite. Extraterrestrial environments being low in oxygen, minerals tend to have very little . The primary magnetic phase on the Moon is ferrite, the body-centered cubic (bcc) phase"
"South Africa and Norway is destined for titaniferous slag application. Ilmenite has been found in Moon rocks, and is typically highly enriched in magnesium similar to the kimberlitic association. In 2005 NASA used the Hubble Space Telescope to locate potentially ilmenite-rich locations. This mineral could be essential to an eventual Moon base, as ilmenite would provide a source of iron and titanium for the building of structures and essential oxygen extraction. Ilmenite Ilmenite or Iron Titanium Dioxide (FeTiO3) is the most important and most extracted titanium mineral, of which over 90% is used in the titanium dioxide pigment industry. It"
"Hexahedrite Hexahedrites are a structural class of iron meteorite. They are composed almost exclusively of the nickel-iron alloy kamacite and are lower in nickel content than the octahedrites. The nickel concentration in hexahedrites is always below 5.8% and only rarely below 5.3%. The name comes from the cubic (i.e. ""hexahedron"") structure of the kamacite crystal. After etching, hexahedrites do not display a Widmanstätten pattern, but they often do show Neumann lines: parallel lines that cross each other at various angles, and are indicative of impact shock on the parent body. These lines are named after Johann G. Neumann, who discovered"
"Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, and the United States. Apatite is occasionally found to contain significant amounts of rare-earth elements and can be used as an ore for those metals. This is preferable to traditional rare-earth ores such as monazite, as apatite is not very radioactive and does not pose an environmental hazard in mine tailings. However, apatite often contains uranium and its equally radioactive decay-chain nuclides. Apatite is an ore mineral at the Hoidas Lake rare-earth project. The standard enthalpies of formation in the crystalline state of hydroxyapatite, chlorapatite and a preliminary value for bromapatite, have been determined by reaction-solution"
"Hapkeite Hapkeite is a mineral discovered in the Dhofar 280 meteorite found in 2000 in Oman on the Arabian peninsula. The meteorite is believed to originate from the Moon; specifically, it appears to be a fragment of lunar highland breccia. Hapkeite's composition is of silicon and iron, and it is similar to other silicon-iron minerals found on Earth. An impact on the Moon is thought to have launched the partially molten or vaporized material into orbit. Due to its 1:2 composition of silicon-iron, hapkeite was given the chemical formula FeSi. It occurs as opaque, yellowish to silvery microscopic isometric crystals."
"which was imported from Latin: Lapis Hæmatites around the 15th century, which originated from Ancient Greek: αἱματίτης λίθος (""haimatitēs"" lithos, ""blood-red stone""). Ochre is a clay that is colored by varying amounts of hematite, varying between 20% and 70%. Red ochre contains unhydrated hematite, whereas yellow ochre contains hydrated hematite (FeO • HO). The principal use of ochre is for tinting with a permanent color. The red chalk writing of this mineral was one of the earliest in the history of humans. The powdery mineral was first used 164,000 years ago by the Pinnacle-Point man possibly for social purposes. Hematite"
"Chromite Chromite is an iron chromium oxide: FeCrO. It is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. Magnesium can substitute for iron in variable amounts as it forms a solid solution with magnesiochromite (MgCrO); substitution of aluminium occurs leading to hercynite (FeAlO). It is by far the most industrially important mineral for the production of metallic chromium, used as an alloying ingredient in stainless and tool steels. Chromite is found as orthocumulate lenses of chromitite in peridotite from the Earth's mantle. It also occurs in layered ultramafic intrusive rocks. In addition, it is found in metamorphic rocks such as"
"gold with the limonite of the resulting soils. While the first iron ore was likely meteoric iron, and hematite was far easier to smelt, in Africa, where the first evidence of iron metallurgy occurs, limonite is the most prevalent iron ore. Before smelting, as the ore was heated and the water driven off, more and more of the limonite was converted to hematite. The ore was then pounded as it was heated above 1250 °C, at which temperature the metallic iron begins sticking together and non-metallic impurities are thrown off as sparks. Complex systems developed, notably in Tanzania, to process"
"limonite. Nonetheless, hematite and magnetite remained the ores of choice when smelting was by bloomeries, and it was only with the development of blast furnaces in 1st century BCE in China and about 1150 CE in Europe, that the brown iron ore of limonite could be used to best advantage. As regards to the use of limonite for pigments, it was one of the earliest man-used materials and can be seen in Neolithic cave paintings and pictographs. Limonite Limonite () is an iron ore consisting of a mixture of hydrated iron(III) oxide-hydroxides in varying composition. The generic formula is frequently"
"Pegmatites are important because they often contain rare earth minerals and gemstones, such as aquamarine, tourmaline, topaz, fluorite, apatite and corundum, often along with tin and tungsten minerals, among others. Pegmatites are the primary source of lithium either as spodumene, lithiophyllite or usually from lepidolite. The primary source for caesium is pollucite, a mineral from a zoned pegmatite. The majority of the world's beryllium is sourced from non-gem quality beryl within pegmatite. Tantalum, niobium, rare-earth elements are sourced from a few pegmatites worldwide, notably the Greenbushes Pegmatite. Bismuth, molybdenum and tin have been won from pegmatite, but this is not"
"Colemanite Colemanite (CaBO·5HO) or (CaBO(OH)·HO) is a found in evaporite deposits of alkaline lacustrine environments. Colemanite is a secondary mineral that forms by alteration of borax and ulexite. It was first described in 1884 for an occurrence near Furnace Creek in Death Valley and was named after William Tell Coleman (1824–1893), owner of the mine ""Harmony Borax Works"" where it was first found. At the time, Coleman had alternatively proposed the name ""smithite"" instead after his business associate Francis Marion Smith. Colemanite is an important ore of boron, and was the most important boron ore until the discovery of kernite"
"Ilmenite Ilmenite or Iron Titanium Dioxide (FeTiO3) is the most important and most extracted titanium mineral, of which over 90% is used in the titanium dioxide pigment industry. It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid.Its most important use is to prepare a white, inert titanium dioxide pigment by the sulphate method. From a commercial perspective, ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium. Ilmenite is the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, fabrics, plastics, paper, sunscreen, food and cosmetics. Ilmenite crystallizes in the trigonal system. The ilmenite crystal structure consists of an ordered derivative"
"been reported from the Tsaobismund pegmatite, south of Karibib, Namibia. Gormanite Gormanite is a phosphate mineral with the formula (Fe,Mg)Al(PO)(OH)·2HO. It was named after the University of Toronto professor Donald Herbert Gorman (born 1922). It was first described in 1981 for occurrences in Rapid Creek and Big Fish River in the Dawson Mining District, Yukon Territory, Canada. At the type localities it occurs as veins in iron phosphate nodules. In the Bisbee, Arizona occurrence, it occurs as large crystals within fractures in a tonalite intrusive. It has also been reported from near Newport, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, and the Charles"
"Ajoite Ajoite is a hydrated sodium potassium copper aluminium silicate hydroxide mineral. Ajoite has the chemical formula (Na,K)CuAlSiO(OH)·3HO, and minor Mn, Fe and Ca are usually also present in the structure. Ajoite is used as a minor ore of copper. In August 1941 Harry Berman of Harvard University was collecting at Ajo, in Pima County, Arizona, USA. He found specimens of dark blue shattuckite, together with a bluish green mineral which he suspected was a new species. Berman and W T Schaller had planned to collaborate on the investigation of this mineral, together with other known copper silicate minerals, but"
"heulandite. Notable occurrences are India; Paterson, New Jersey; Pine Creek, California; Iceland; Scotland; and the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia. Prehnite pseudomorphs after laumontite (epimorphs) have been found in India. Laumontite Laumontite is a mineral, one of the zeolite group. Its molecular formula is ()·4HO, a hydrated calcium-aluminium silicate. Potassium or sodium may substitute for the calcium but only in very small amounts. It is monoclinic, space group C2/m. It forms prismatic crystals with a diamond-shaped cross-section and an angled termination. When pure, the color is colorless or white. Impurities may color it orange, brownish, gray, yellowish, pink, or reddish."
"Hemusite Hemusite is a very rare isometric gray mineral containing copper, molybdenum, sulfur, and tin with chemical formula CuSnMoS. It was discovered by Bulgarian mineralogist Georgi Terziev in 1963. He also described it and named it after Haemus, the ancient name of Stara planina (Balkan) mountains in Europe. The type locality is Chelopech copper ore deposit, Bulgaria. Later tiny deposits of hemusite were found in Ozernovskoe deposit, Kamchatka, Russia; Kawazu mine, Rendaiji, Shimoda city, Chūbu region, Honshu Island, Japan; Iriki mine, Iriki, Satsuma-gun, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu Region, Japan; Kochbulak deposit, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Hemusite occurs as rounded isometric grains and aggregates"