Common Minerals 1
The most abundant metal element in Earth’s crust.
It’s used in transportation (automobiles), packaging, building/construction, electrical, machinery and other applications
Aluminum
It’s used as an alloy in stainless and heat resisting steel products. It’s also used in chemical and metallurgical industries (chrome fixtures, etc.)
Chromite
use is primarily as an alloying agent for iron and steel
Vanadium
used in jewelry and arts; dentistry and medicine; medallions and coins; ingots as a store of value; scientific and electronic instruments; and as an electrolyte in the electroplating industry.
Gold
It’s used in alloy steels to make automotive parts, construction equipment, gas transmission pipes, stainless steels, tool steels, cast irons, super alloys and chemicals and lubricants
Molybdenum
A native element, this metal is extracted from stibnite ore and other minerals. It is used as a hardening alloy for lead, especially storage batteries and cable sheaths
Antimony
It’s used in floor and wall tile as an absorbent, in sanitation, mud drilling, foundry sand bonding, in iron pelletizing, brick, light weight aggregate and cement.
Clays
. A small amount is used in welding rod coatings and for manufacturing carbides, chemicals and metals. It is produced in Florida, Georgia and Virginia.
Titanium
Processed and used as prefabricated wallboard or an industrial or building plaster; used in cement manufacturing; agriculture and other uses.
Gypsum
It’s a carbonate of potassium. It’s used as a fertilizer, in medicine, in the chemical industry. It also can produce decorative color effects on brass, bronze and nickel
Potash
It’s used as a heavy additive in oil well drilling; in the paper and rubber industries; as a filler or extender in cloth, ink and plastics products;
Barium
Used in medicine, paints, vulcanized rubber and sun block
Zinc
Refractory metal with unique electrical, chemical and physical properties used to produce electronic components
Can be found in products ranging from weapon systems to superconductors, high-speed tools, catalysts, sutures and body implants, electronic circuitry and thin-film components. It’s used in optical glass and electroplating devices.
Tantalum
It’s used in building construction; electric and electronic products (cables and wires, switches, plumbing, heating); transportation equipment; roofing; chemical and pharmaceutical machinery; and alloys
Copper
Because of its ability to rotate the plane of polarization of light and its transparency in ultraviolet rays, it’s used in heat-ray lamps, prism and spectrographic lenses. It’s also used in manufacturing glass, paints, abrasives, refractory materials and precision instruments.
Quartz
Rock composed of hydrated aluminum oxides
Bauxite
Used in animal feed, cat litter, cement, aquaculture (fish hatcheries for removing ammonia from the water), water softener and purification, catalysts, odor control and for removing radioactive ions from nuclear plant effluent
Zeolites
It’s used in the manufacture of sulfuric acid, fertilizers, petroleum refining and metal mining
Sulfur
It’s used in production of hydrofluoric acid, which is used in the pottery, ceramics, optical, electroplating and plastics industries; in the metallurgical treatment of bauxite; as a flux in open hearth steel furnaces and in metal smelting; in carbon electrodes; emery wheels; electric arc welders; toothpaste; and paint pigment
Fluorite (fluorspar)
It’s used in the manufacture of sulfur, sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide. Pellets of pressed pyrite dust are used to recover iron, gold, copper, cobalt and nickel. It’s also used to make inexpensive jewelry.
Pyrite
Used in the nuclear industry and to make light, but strong alloys used by the aircraft industry. Beryllium salts are used in fluorescent lamps, X-ray tubes and as a deoxidizer in bronze metallurgy.
It is used in computers, telecommunication and electronics products, aerospace and defense applications, appliances, automotive and consumer electronics, and medical applications.
The U.S. was 10 percent import reliant in 2016
Beryllium
Used in cemented carbide parts for cutting and wear-resistant materials - primarily in the construction, metalworking, mining, and oil and gas-drilling industries
Tungsten
Used in glass container manufacture; in fiberglass and specialty glass; also used in production of flat glass; in liquid detergents; in medicine; as a food additive; photography; cleaning and boiler compounds; pH control of water
Sodium Carbonate (soda ash or trona)
It’s used primarily in superalloys for aircraft gas turbine engines, cemented carbides for cutting tools and wear-resistant applications, chemicals (paint dryers, catalysts, magnetic coatings) and permanent magnets.
Cobalt
It’s used to produce phosphoric acid for ammoniated phosphate fertilizers, feed additives for livestock, elemental phosphorus, and a variety of phosphate chemicals for industrial and home consumption
Phosphate Rock