MINERAL RESOURCES

www.geolsoc.org.uk/factsheets

Images (left to right):

Giant gypsum crystals, Naica, Mexico © Alexander Van Driessche / Wikimedia
Biotite mica in thin section under a microscope © Strekeisen / Wikimedia
Kaolin (‘china clay’) quarry at Wheal Martyn, Cornwall © Martin Addison / Flickr
Why do we extract minerals? The answer is simple:
if you can’t grow it, you have to mine it! Some minerals
are prized for their beauty as gemstones, but many Industrial and Construction Minerals
others have more important hidden uses. Almost
everything in the modern world uses minerals or their Fuels and metal ores are not the only
by-products in some way. geological materials we extract for
their commercial value. The others
Rock, mineral or chemical element? Quartz © Didier
are known as Industrial and Descouens / Wikimedia
A mineral is a naturally occurring substance, with a particular chemical Construction Minerals. Hundreds of
formula and crystal structure. these are extracted for an enormous
Chemical elements are atoms with specific properties. Minerals are made range of uses, some of which can be
up of one or more different elements, and rocks are composed of one or surprising:
more different minerals.  You thought paper was made
We can extract certain minerals from rocks and separate out chemical entirely from wood? Not so - it Fluorite © Carles
Millan / Wikimedia
elements from them. In the United Kingdom, the average person benefits contains a clay mineral, kaolin, as a
from the use of about 10 tonnes of minerals and metals every year. ‘filler’ and to make it white.
Minerals in your diet  The world communicates through
The human body needs a number of essential ‘minerals’ to function, crystals! Quartz is commonly used
which must be taken in through our diets. Calcium, iodine and iron are in microphones and telephones as
Wolframite
needed in the largest quantities, with 16 others in smaller amounts: piezoelectric crystals that convert © Alchemist-hp
sound into electrical signals. / Wikimedia
Essential dietary ‘minerals’:
calcium iodine iron
beta-carotene
copper
boron
magnesium
chromium
manganese
cobalt
molybdenum DID YOU KNOW?
nickel phosphorus potassium selenium There are over 5,000 known minerals. Many of
silicon sodium chloride sulphur zinc these are extremely rare and some occur in a
single location on Earth.
Most of these are actually chemical elements, apart from beta-carotene
(an organic pigment found in plants) and sodium chloride or salt (the
The entire global supply of some of the rarest
only mineral listed above). However, we call them ‘minerals’ because
(such as ‘hazenite’ and ‘fingerite’) would fit into a
the body will only accept them combined with other elements in food or
thimble, less than 50 grams. By comparison, we
drink. For example, we cannot consume sodium metal by itself as it
may think of gold as rare, but humans mine about
would react violently with water in the body, so it is consumed as
3,000 tonnes of it every year.
sodium chloride (salt).
MINERAL RESOURCES
www.geolsoc.org.uk/factsheets

Minerals in ‘green energy’ technology What minerals do we produce

in the UK?
Renewable energy technology uses a variety of chemical elements sourced from minerals:
Despite a long mining heritage,
Some chemical
Technology Where do we get them? the UK currently has few metal
elements used
mines. Important exceptions
 tellurium, selenium By-products of copper mining are the Hemerdon/ Drakelands
‘Solar’
(Photovoltaic)  indium, cadmium By-products of zinc mining Tungsten-Tin Mine in Devon
panels and mining for precious metals
 gallium A by-product of aluminium mining
near Omagh, Northern Ireland.
 neodymium Neodymium occurs most commonly in
Wind turbines (one of the rare the minerals monazite and bastnäsite, The UK mostly produces
earth elements*) with other rare earth elements*. construction minerals including
 nickel We commonly mine for nickel and sand, gravel and crushed rock
Steam turbines
 titanium titanium. Rhenium and ruthenium are aggregates, as well as
used in
Geothermal  ruthenium very rare and are by-products of copper limestone, clay, slate and other
Energy  rhenium and platinum mining. minerals. These are relatively
cheap to extract from quarries.
Water turbines
 chromium Chromium is usually produced from the They are mainly used
used in
Hydroelectric  nickel mineral chromite. domestically for building and
Energy construction, as well as for
Lithium has two different sources: manufacturing processes in
agriculture and the chemical
Energy storage  Mining for the minerals spodumene
 lithium industry.
(batteries) & lepidolite
 Extraction from brine pools by
Nevertheless, the UK does
electrolysis (mostly in the Andes).
export some minerals, and is
Steam turbine image © Siemens Pressebild *Rare earth elements are a group of metallic the world’s third largest
/ Christian Kuhna / Wikimedia chemical elements with similar properties.
producer of the mineral kaolin
Artisanal mining and conflicts or ‘china clay’. This is extracted
from two sites in Devon and
High value minerals are locally abundant in some developing
Cornwall, and mostly used in
countries, leading to small-scale subsistence mining, often
the paper and ceramics
using hand tools. While often illegal, this ‘artisanal mining’
industries. Potash is currently
makes a significant contribution to local economies, but has
produced in North East England
sometimes been used to fund armed conflicts. Civil wars in
for use as crop fertilizer, with
Sierra Leone, Liberia and Angola were heavily financed by
future plans to open one of the
‘blood diamonds’. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has
largest potash mines in the
been hardest-hit, with conflict minerals including gold,
world in North Yorkshire.
cassiterite (for tin), wolframite (for tungsten) and ‘coltan’ (for
niobium and tantalum). Image: Artisanal miners at a tantalum mine,
Democratic Republic of the Congo © U.S. GAO
What is being done?

Some countries, such as the USA, have passed laws forcing companies to declare the origin of the
minerals in their products. Voluntary schemes to increase accountability and traceability of minerals
have also been introduced. Several charitable organisations campaign against the use of conflict
minerals, including Amnesty International and FairPhone, which produces a ‘responsibly sourced’
smartphone. Organisations such as the Alliance for Responsible Mining work to improve the safety
and welfare of miners, strengthen environmental protection and eliminate child labour. Image: Boulby Potash Mine, North Yorkshire
© Michael Jagger / geograph.org.uk