Mines And Minerals

Mineral ZINC

2012-02-05T18:20:00.000+05:30

Now I will elaborate on another mineral Zinc. The most commonly found zinc mineral is sphalerite (ZnS) also known as zinc blende, which is found in almost all currently mined zinc deposits. The mineral crystallizes from the hydrothermal solution as purezinc sulphide. The mineral marmatite is a complex zinc-iron sulphide, which is commonly found but rarely exploited as it is not easy to smelt.

Zinc deposits are often available as oxides and carbonates. Small quantities of zinc carbonate - the mineral calamine (smithsonite) in North America - often refer to the hydrated silicate mineral also known as hemimorphite. Other forms of Zinc oxide in the earth's crust are franklinite or zincite.

Applications of Zinc include but are not limited to below

1. Galvanizing
2. as an active alloy in Brass and Bronze
3.Chemicals
4. Diecasting.

MINES

2012-02-04T19:16:00.001+05:30

Earth's crust is the major source of metals and minerals, which are intangible in terms of value provided for humans in day to day activities.

Oil Drilling grade Hematite

2012-02-02T16:45:00.000+05:30

Hematite is used as a weighing agent in oil and natural gas drilling where the requirement of Specific gravity for the overall mud preparation would be above 5.05 on minimum side. Practically speaking this SG is achieved only when the material is in its purest form, i.e., free from impurities like Silica, Manganese, and Calcium.

However this is not possible, as per API specs, small amounts of above impurities can be slightly present in oxide form where the SG of Hematite does not go below 5.05. Truly speaking, by virtue the purest form i.e., 69.94 Fe in Fe2O3 will have SG of 5.2. To achieve this the natural mineral needs to be beneficated to remove impurities.

Only in limited parts of the world the purest form of Hematite is available. One such location in India is Prakasam and krishna Districts of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Chemical Composition of Minerals

2012-02-01T23:16:00.000+05:30

Minerals are classified and also identified according to chemical composition which include but not limited to

1. Silicate class
2. Carbonate class
3. Sulfate class
4. Halide class
5. Oxide class
6. Sulfide class
7. Phosphate class
8. Element class
9. Organic class

I will elaborate on this in my next posts, keep watching daily.

Physical Properties of Minerals

2012-02-01T23:12:00.000+05:30

Physical properties which are used to identify over 4000 types of minerals available in earth's crust are

1.Crystal structure and habit

2. Hardness

3. Luster

4. Diaphaneity

5. Color

6. Streak

7. Cleavage

8. Fracture

9. Specific gravity

10. Fluorescenc

11. Magnetism

12. Radioactivity

13 Tenacity

14. Piezoelectricity

15. Reactivity to dilute acids

Minerals

2012-02-01T23:05:00.000+05:30

The International Mineralogical Association approved the following definition in 1995:

"A mineral is an element or chemical compound that is normally crystalline and that has been formed as a result of geological processes".

Barytes

2012-02-01T14:31:00.001+05:30

Barytes is mainly used as high density mud for oil, gas and in other fuel drilling. Most preferred densities range from 4.0 to 4.2. Most of the reserves across the world have exhausted due to high usage in exploration of humans fossil fuels.

Other applications include paints & tiles manufacturing. Generally SSW( SUPER SNOW WHITE ) Barytes are used in paints.

Natural Red Oxide

2012-01-31T22:24:00.000+05:30

Natural Red Oxide or Hematite or Ferric Oxide is a natural form of mineral Hematite available abundantly in the earth's crust in most parts of the World.

Its applications include, but are not limited to these.

1. Primer Paints
2. High pressure Oil & Gas Drilling
3. Cement
4. Construction Materials like Tiles

It is also one of the major source of Iron ore apart from other mineral Magnetite. The total Fe content in Hematite is 69.94 and the rest constitutes Oxygen. However the purest form is not possible in its natural form. It can be obtained by the process of Benefication. Benefication is a process of removing impurities up to a certain percentage.