Different minerals have different beneficiation methods. Today, Fodamon engineers summarized some types of mineral resources for your understanding and classification. Mineral resources refer to mineral resources with economic value that can be developed and utilized underground or on the surface. Mineral resources are classified into the following categories according to their nature and use:
1、 Metallic mineral resources
The useful mineral resources from which metal raw materials can be extracted can be divided into:
- Ferrous minerals: such as iron, manganese, chromium, vanadium, titanium, nickel, cobalt, tungsten, molybdenum, etc;
- Non ferrous metal minerals: such as copper, lead, zinc, tin, bismuth, antimony, mercury, aluminum, magnesium, etc;
- Precious metal minerals: such as gold, silver, platinum, palladium, osmium, iridium, ruthenium, rhodium, etc;
- Rare metal minerals: such as niobium, tantalum, beryllium, lithium, zirconium, cesium, rubidium, strontium, etc;
- Rare earth metal mineral resources（ Σ REE): 16 elements including atomic numbers 57-71 and 39 (yttrium) are classified into the following two categories according to their geochemical properties and symbiotic relationship:
(1) Light rare earth metal mineral (cerium group element Σ Ce): such as lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium (artificial element), samarium, europium, etc;
(2) Heavy rare earth metal mineral (yttrium group element Σ Y) : such as yttrium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, etc;
- Disperse element minerals: such as germanium, gallium, indium, thallium, cadmium, hafnium, rhenium, scandium, selenium, tellurium, etc.
2、 Nonmetallic mineral
From which non-metallic elements can be obtained or minerals or mineral aggregates can be directly utilized. In industry, except a few non-metallic minerals are used to extract non-metallic elements, such as sulfur and phosphorus, most non-metallic minerals use some physical, chemical and technological properties of minerals or mineral aggregates. For example, diamond mostly uses its hardness and luster; Mica uses its transparency and insulation; Crystal uses its optical and piezoelectric properties and so on. It can be divided into:
- Metallurgical auxiliary raw materials: such as fluorite, magnesite, refractory clay, dolomite and limestone;
- Raw materials for chemical industry: such as apatite, phosphorite, pyrite, potassium salt, rock salt, alunite, limestone, etc;
- Industrial raw materials: such as graphite, diamond, mica, asbestos, barite, corundum, etc;
- Piezoelectric and optical raw materials: such as piezoelectric quartz, optical quartz, iceland spar and fluorite;
- Raw materials for ceramics and glass industry: such as feldspar, quartz sand, kaolin and clay;
- Building materials and cement materials: such as sand, gravel, pumice, chalk, gypsum, granite, perlite, turquoise, marble, etc.
3、 Gem and jade materials
Such as diamond, ruby, sapphire, jadeite, jadeite, crystal, serpentine, pyrophyllite, turquoise, agate, etc.
4、 Combustible organic rock mineral
It refers to underground resources that can provide organic energy for industry and civil use. They are not only the most important fuel, but also important chemical raw materials. From the perspective of chemical composition, they are mainly composed of hydrocarbons, which should belong to non-metallic minerals, but their formation conditions and uses are obviously different from the above non-metallic minerals, so they can be separately classified into a large category. According to their physical state, they can be divided into three categories:
- Solid combustible organic rock minerals: such as coal, peat, coal, oil shale, wax, asphalt, etc;
- Gas combustible organic rock mineral: such as natural gas;
- Liquid combustible organic rock mineral: such as petroleum, etc.
If you have questions about mineral processing and demand for processing machinery, please contact us. Our engineers with years of experience will give you appropriate solutions and preferential prices according to the nature of your minerals.