Nonmetal Mineral Resources

Nonmetal minerals is a broad class that covers resources from silicate minerals (gemstones, mica, talc, and asbestos) to send, gravel, salts, limestone, and soils. Sand and gravel production comprise by far the greatest volume and dollar value of all nonmetal mineral resources. Sand and gravel are used mainly in brick and concrete constructions, paving, as loose road filler, and for sandblasting. High-purity silica sand is our source of glass. These materials usually are retrieved from surface pit mines and quarries, where they have been deposited by glaciers, winds, or ancient oceans.

Limestone, like sand and gravel, is mined and quarried for concrete and crushed for road rock. It also is cut for building stone, pulverized for use as an agricultural soil additive that neutralizes acidic soil, and roasted in lime kilns and cement plants to make plaster (hydrated lime) and cement.

Evaporites are mined for halite, gypsum, and potash. These are often found at or above 97 percent purity. Halite, or rock salt, is used for water softening and melting ice on winter roads in some northern states. Refined, it is a source of table salt. Gypsum (calcium sulfate) now makes our plaster wallboard, but it has been used for plaster ever since the Egyptians plastered the walls of their frescoed tombs along the Nile River some five thousand years ago. Potash is an evaporate composed of a variety of potassium chlorides and potassium sulfates. These highly soluble potassium salts have long been used as a soil fertilizer.

Sulfur, in the form of pyrite (FeS2), is mined mainly for sulfuric acid production. In the United States, sulfuric acid use amounts to more than 200 lbs per person per year, mostly because of its use in industry, car batteries, and some medicinal products.

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