8/14/2014

KALYAN SIR: MINERALS

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MINERALS
KALYANSIR.NET
WORLD MINERALS:

The study of minerals is called Mineralogy.

A mineral occurs naturally.
This is a solid chemical substance.
It has a crystalline structure.
It has specific physical properties.

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(Rock is different from mineral. A rock is an aggregate of one or more minerals).

Industrial minerals are those minerals that are commercially valuable.

ALUMINUM:
The principle ore of Aluminum is Bauxite.

What is Ore?
This is the raw material of any
mineral

Australia, Jamaica, Guinea, Brazil, USA, Russia are the chief producers of Bauxite.

Production of Aluminum from bauxite is a highly energy consuming process.

Australia, USA and Russia are the chief producers of Aluminum.

COAL:
This is a very important energy mineral.

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The main types of coal are

v Anthracite
v Bituminous
v Lignite
v Peat
Anthracite has the highest (85%) carbon content.
Peat has the lowest (35%) carbon content.
Bituminous is most widely occurring type of coal.
China is the leading producer of coal.
USA has worlds largest recoverable coal reserves.
Japan is the largest importer of Coal.
COPPER:
Chile, Peru, USA, Canada are the main producers.

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Most of the copper is obtained from copper oxides and sulphides.

Chile is the largest producer of copper in the World.

Where is Chile?
Look at South America map. Chile occupying a narrow
and long strip on the west coast of South America. Chile
has Andes Mountains towards East and the Pacific Ocean
towards West.

DIAMONDS:
The leading producers are Botswana, Russia, South Africa, Republic of Congo and
Australia.
This is also the hardest substance.

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This is an allotrope of Carbon.

What is allotropy?
v Allotropy is the property of some chemical elements to exist in 2 or more different
molecular forms known as allotropes of these elements.
v Diamond and graphite are two allotropes of carbon. These are the pure forms of the
same element carbon that differ in structure.
The diamond has highest hardness.
In India Madhya Pradesh is the only state that produces diamonds. Majhgawan area
of Panna district in Madhya Pradesh is the only diamond producing mine in India.
GOLD:
This is a noble metal.

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South Africa, USA, Australia, Canada are the leading producers.

Witwatersrand in South Africa is the most important gold mining region.
Gold is the most malleable and ductile metal known.

Ductility means ability to be stretched.

Malleability means ability to form a thin
sheet by hammering or rolling.

Ductility and malleability are the aspects of

plasticity.

Gold is represented by the symbol Au.

Kolar Gold fields in Bangarpet Taluk of Kolar district of Karnataka from where the
gold is extracted.

IRON ORE:
This is the basic raw material for the iron and steel industry.

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It is one of the most widely occurring minerals.

Iron ore represents almost 95% of all metal used per year.
Leading producers are China, Brazil, Australia, India and Russia.
China is the largest producer of iron ore in the country.

Commercial ores of iron are:

v Magnetite (More than 60%
iron)
v

Haematite (50% to 65%

iron)

v Limonite (less than 50% of

iron)
v Siderite.

SILVER:
The most important ore of silver is argentine.

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This is also a precious metal.

Mexico, Australia, Chile are the chief producers.
Mexico is the largest producer in the World.

MANGANESE:
Manganese is used for making steel.

The main ores are pyrolusite and psilomelane.

China, South Africa, Australia, Ukraine are the leading producers of Manganese.

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LEAD:
Galena is the chief ore of lead.

The chemical symbol of lead is Pb (Plumbum).

Lead is a soft and malleable material.
This occurs in association with Zinc.
Australia, China, USA, Peru are the chief producers.

MERCURY:
This occurs in liquid state.

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Spain, China and Italy are the chief producers.

The chemical symbol of Mercury is Hg.
Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at standard conditions for temperature and
pressure. (Bromine is also liquid under these conditions).
Mercury occurs in the form of cinnabar ore.

MICA:
This is a non metallic mineral.

Mica is a bad conductor of heat and electricity.

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India and USA are the leading producers.

OIL:
This is commonly called petroleum.

This is also called crude oil.

This is a mixture of combustible hydro-carbons.
This is used to produce gasoline (petrol) and other petroleum based products from crude
oil.
Saudi Arabia, USA, Russia, Iran are the chief producers.
Saudi Arabia is the largest producer.
USA is the largest importer.
NATURAL GAS:
This is also a mixture of carbon and other combustible gases that are called hydrocarbons.
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Russia, USA, Canada are the chief producers.

Russia is the leading exporter.
USA is the leading importer.
Natural gas primarily consists of Methane.
Before natural gas is used as fuel except methane all other material are removed.

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