Intriguing examples of geology applied to industrial minerals

It is noted that the dollar value of the industrial minerals produced in the United States stands, in relation to the dollar value of the metals produced, in the ratio of $3.2 billion for the nonmetals to $2.2 billion for the metals (1957). The tonnage of crushed stone, and of sand and gravel, each exceeds the tonnage of all the metallic ores produced, and even exceeds the tonnage of solid fuels. Comparatively few geologists have been attracted to the study of industrial minerals. A selection of some of the outstanding problems, mostly geological, but also mineralogical and chemical, offered by the occurrences of the industrial minerals, is the subject of this paper. Asbestos, barite, B, Br, fluorspar, lime and pozzolan cement, pegmatites, sand and gravel, and Ti deposits are discussed.

This record provided courtesy of AGI/GeoRef.