Type of Ores

Type of Ores

Aug 26, 2022, 16:45 IST

About Ore

The materials available for making tools and weapons, houses and skyscrapers, computers and lasers have had a profound effect on the development of human civilization. The earth’s crust is the main source of metals. The occurrence of metal in native or in combined state in the earth’s crust along with a number of rocky and other impurities depends upon the chemical nature of metals. Metals having less electropositive character have less affinity for oxygen, moisture and occur in free or metallic or native state. Minerals which are naturally occurring chemical substances in the earth’s crust obtainable by mining. Out of many minerals in which a metal may be found, only a few are viable to be used as sources of that metal. Such minerals are known as ores.

Ores may be divided into four groups

i) Native Ores : These ores contain the metal in free state eg. Silver gold etc.

ii) Oxidised Ores : These ores consist of oxides or oxysalts (eg. carbonates, phosphate) and silicate of metal. Important oxide ore includes, Fe2O3, Al2O3.2H2O etc. and important cabonate ores are limestone (CaCO3), Calamine (ZnCO3) etc.

iii) Sulphurised Ores : These ores consist of sulfides of metals like iron, lead, mercury etc.e.g iron pyrites (FeS2). galena (PbS), Cinnabar (HgS)

iv) Halide ores: Metallic halides are very few in nature. Chlorides are most common examples include horn silver (AgCl) carnallite KCl. MgCl2.6H2O and fluorspar (CaF2) etc.