Ore

Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains desirable minerals, typically

metals, that can be extracted from it.[1] Ore is extracted from the earth through
mining and refined, often via smelting, to extract the valuable element or
elements.

The grade of ore refers to the concentration of the desired material it contains.
The value of the metal an ore contains must be weighed against the cost of
extraction to determine whether it is of sufficiently high grade to be worth
mining. Iron ore (banded iron formation)

Metal ores are generally oxides, sulfides, silicates, native metals such as copper,
or noble metals such as gold. Ores must be processed to extract the elements of
interest from the waste rock. Ore bodies are formed by a variety of geological
processes generally referred to as ore genesis.

Contents
Ore deposits
Classification
Hydrothermal epigenetic deposits
Granite related hydrothermal Manganese ore – psilomelane (size:
Magmatic deposits 6.7 × 5.8 × 5.1 cm)
Volcanic-related deposits
Metamorphically reworked deposits
Carbonatite-alkaline igneous related
Sedimentary deposits
Sedimentary hydrothermal deposits
Astrobleme-related ores

Extraction
Trade
Important ore minerals
See also
References
Lead ore – galena and anglesite
Further reading
(size: 4.8 × 4.0 × 3.0 cm)
External link

Ore deposits
An ore deposit is an accumulation of ore. This is distinct from a mineral resource as defined by the mineral resource classification
criteria. An ore deposit is one occurrence of a particular ore type. Most ore deposits are named according to their location (for
example, the Witwatersrand, South Africa), or after a discoverer (e.g. the Kambalda nickel shoots are named after drillers), or
after some whimsy, a historical figure, a prominent person, something from mythology (phoenix, kraken, serepentleopard, etc.) or
the code name of the resource company which found it (e.g. MKD-5 was the in-
house name for the Mount Keith nickel sulphide deposit).

Classification
Ore deposits are classified according to various criteria developed via the study
of economic geology, or ore genesis. The classifications below are typical.

Hydrothermal epigenetic deposits

Mesothermal lode gold deposits, typified by the Golden Mile, Gold ore (size: 7.5 × 6.1 × 4.1 cm)
Kalgoorlie
Archaean conglomerate hosted gold-uranium deposits, typified by
Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada and Witwatersrand, South Africa
Carlin–type gold deposits, including;
Epithermal stockwork vein deposits

Granite related hydrothermal

IOCG or iron oxide copper gold deposits, typified by the supergiant Olympic
Dam Cu-Au-U deposit
Porphyry copper +/- gold +/- molybdenum +/- silver deposits
Intrusive-related copper-gold +/- (tin-tungsten), typified by the Tombstone,
Arizona deposits
Hydromagmatic magnetite iron ore deposits and skarns
Skarn ore deposits of copper, lead, zinc, tungsten, etcetera
Cart for carrying ore from a
mine on display at the
Magmatic deposits
Historic Archive and
Magmatic nickel-copper-iron-PGE deposits including Museum of Mining in
Pachuca, Mexico
Cumulate vanadiferous or platinum-bearing magnetite or chromite
Cumulate hard-rock titanium (ilmenite) deposits
Komatiite hosted Ni-Cu-PGE deposits
Subvolcanic feeder subtype, typified by Noril'sk-Talnakh and the Thompson Belt, Canada
Intrusive-related Ni-Cu-PGE, typified by Voisey's Bay, Canada and Jinchuan, China
Lateritic nickel ore deposits, examples include Goro and Acoje, (Philippines) and Ravensthorpe, Western
Australia.

Volcanic-related deposits

Volcanic hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) Cu-Pb-Zn including;

Examples include Teutonic Bore and Golden Grove, Western Australia

Besshi type
Kuroko type

Metamorphically reworked deposits

Podiform serpentinite-hosted paramagmatic iron oxide-chromite deposits, typified by Savage River, Tasmania
iron ore, Coobina chromite deposit
Broken Hill Type Pb-Zn-Ag, considered to be a class of reworked SEDEX deposits
Carbonatite-alkaline igneous related

Phosphorus-tantalite-vermiculite (Phalaborwa South Africa)

Rare earth elements – Mount Weld, Australia and Bayan Obo,
Mongolia
Diatreme hosted diamond in kimberlite, lamproite or lamprophyre

Sedimentary deposits

Banded iron formation iron ore deposits, including

Channel-iron deposits or pisolite type iron ore

Heavy mineral sands ore deposits and other sand dune hosted
deposits A cross-section of a typical Volcanic
Alluvial gold, diamond, tin, platinum or black sand deposits hosted massive sulfide|volcanogenic
massive sulfide (VMS) ore deposit
Alluvial oxide zinc deposit type: sole example Skorpion Zinc

Sedimentary hydrothermal deposits

SEDEX

Lead-zinc-silver, typified by Red Dog, McArthur River, Mount Isa,

etc.
Stratiform arkose-hosted and shale-hosted copper, typified by
the Zambian copperbelt.
Stratiform tungsten, typified by the Erzgebirge deposits,
Czechoslovakia
Exhalative spilite-chert hosted gold deposits Magnified view of banded iron
Mississippi valley type (MVT) zinc-lead deposits formation specimen from Upper
Hematite iron ore deposits of altered banded iron formation Michigan. Scale bar is 5.0 mm.

Astrobleme-related ores

Sudbury Basin nickel and copper, Ontario, Canada

Extraction
The basic extraction of ore deposits follows these steps:

1. Prospecting or exploration to find and then define the extent and

value of ore where it is located ("ore body")
2. Conduct resource estimation to mathematically estimate the size and
grade of the deposit
3. Conduct a pre-feasibility study to determine the theoretical Some ore deposits in the world
economics of the ore deposit. This identifies, early on, whether
further investment in estimation and engineering studies is warranted
and identifies key risks and areas for further work.
4. Conduct a feasibility study to evaluate the financial viability, technical
and financial risks and robustness of the project and make a
decision as whether to develop or walk away from a proposed mine
project. This includes mine planning to evaluate the economically
recoverable portion of the deposit, the metallurgy and ore
recoverability, marketability and payability of the ore concentrates,
engineering, milling and infrastructure costs, finance and equity Some additional ore deposits in the
requirements and a cradle to grave analysis of the possible mine, world
from the initial excavation all the way through to reclamation.
 5. Development to create access to an ore body and building of mine plant and equipment
6. The operation of the mine in an active sense
7. Reclamation to make land where a mine had been suitable for future use

Trade
Ores (metals) are traded internationally and comprise a sizeable portion of international trade in raw materials both in value and
volume. This is because the worldwide distribution of ores is unequal and dislocated from locations of peak demand and from
smelting infrastructure.

Most base metals (copper, lead, zinc, nickel) are traded internationally on the London Metal Exchange, with smaller stockpiles
and metals exchanges monitored by the COMEX and NYMEX exchanges in the United States and the Shanghai Futures
Exchange in China.

Iron ore is traded between customer and producer, though various benchmark prices are set quarterly between the major mining
conglomerates and the major consumers, and this sets the stage for smaller participants.

Other, lesser, commodities do not have international clearing houses and benchmark prices, with most prices negotiated between
suppliers and customers one-on-one. This generally makes determining the price of ores of this nature opaque and difficult. Such
metals include lithium, niobium-tantalum, bismuth, antimony and rare earths. Most of these commodities are also dominated by
one or two major suppliers with >60% of the world's reserves. The London Metal Exchange aims to add uranium to its list of
metals on warrant.

The World Bank reports that China was the top importer of ores and metals in 2005 followed by the US and Japan.[2]

Important ore minerals

Acanthite (cooled polymorph of Argentite): Ag2S for production of silver
Barite: BaSO4
Bauxite Al(OH)3 and AlOOH, dried to Al2O3 for production of aluminium
Beryl: Be3Al2(SiO3)6
Bornite: Cu5FeS4
Cassiterite: SnO2
Chalcocite: Cu2S for production of copper
Chalcopyrite: CuFeS2
Chromite: (Fe, Mg)Cr2O4 for production of chromium
Cinnabar: HgS for production of mercury
Cobaltite: (Co, Fe)AsS
Columbite-Tantalite or Coltan: (Fe, Mn)(Nb, Ta)2O6
Dolomite: CaMg(CO3)2
Galena: PbS
Native gold: Au, typically associated with quartz or as placer deposits
Hematite: Fe2O3
Ilmenite: FeTiO3
Magnetite: Fe3O4
Malachite: Cu2CO3(OH)2
Molybdenite: MoS2
Pentlandite: (Fe, Ni)9S8
Pyrolusite: MnO2
Scheelite: CaWO4
Sperrylite: PtAs2 for production of platinum
 Sphalerite: ZnS
Uraninite (pitchblende): UO2 for production of metallic uranium
Wolframite: (Fe, Mn)WO4

See also
Economic geology
Extractive metallurgy (ore processing)
Froth Flotation
Mineral resource classification
Ore genesis
Petrology

References
1. Guilbert, John M. and Charles F. Park, Jr. (1986) The Geology of Ore Deposits, W. H. Freeman, p. 1. ISBN 0-
7167-1456-6
2. "Background Paper - The Outlook for Metals Markets Prepared for G20 Deputies Meeting Sydney 2006" (http://si
teresources.worldbank.org/INTOGMC/Resources/outlook_for_metals_market.pdf) (PDF). The China Growth
Story. WorldBank.org. Washington. September 2006. p. 4. Retrieved 2019-07-19.

Further reading
DILL, H.G. (2010) The “chessboard” classification scheme of mineral deposits: Mineralogy and geology from
aluminum to zirconium, Earth-Science Reviews, Volume 100, Issue 1-4, June 2010, Pages 1-420 (http://www.hge
odill.de/Map-Chessboard-classification-scheme.htm)

External link
Media related to Ores at Wikimedia Commons

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ore&oldid=925811324"

This page was last edited on 12 November 2019, at 13:35 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.