Iron, ore minerals

Zhang, W., Singh, P Paling, E. and Delides, S. (2004) Arsenic removal from contaminated water by natural iron ores. Minerals Engineering, 17(4), 517-24. 

From the diagrams that have been plotted, information can be obtained on the composition of the fluids in equilibrium with iron-ore minerals over wide ranges of temperature (200-850°C) and pressure (Pf =0.5-10 kbar), and the evolution of the composition of the fluids as a function of tempera-... 

Iron ore is a chemical sedimentary rock that forms when iron and oxygen (and sometimes other substances) combine in solntion and deposit as a sediment. Hematite is the most common sedimentary iron ore mineral. Rock salt (halite) is also a chemical sedimentary rock that forms from the evaporation of ocean or saline lake. It is rarely fonnd at Earth s snrface, except in areas of very arid climate and is often mined for use in the chemical indnstry or for nse as a winter highway treatment. Limestone is a rock that is composed primarily of calcinm carbonate. It can form organically from the accumulation of shell, coral, algal, and fecal debris. It can also form chemically from the precipitation of calcinm carbonate from lake or ocean water. 

Abundant Metals and Their Uses. The abundant metals are those found in the highest concentrations within the Earth. Iron minerals are used to make steel, which is used to make automobiles, buildings, roads, bridges, major appliances, and construction materials such as nails. The major iron ore minerals, hematite and magnetite (both iron oxides), are converted to steel by heating them to a high temperature with coke and limestone to form molten steel, which contains up to 2 percent carbon to harden the iron. 

Table 1 shows that apart from the iron oxides, the other major composition are SiOa, AI2O3 and alkali metal oxides, which coincide well with the previous studies on minerals composition of the ore, from Table II, it can be seen that the major iron ore mineral include hematite, magnetite, siderite. 

Fig. 2.1.2. Fibrotic macule from the lung of a hematite (iron-ore) miner. In contrast to figure 2.1.1, there is both marked fibrosis and focal emphysema (arrows). Lesions of this type may cause airflow obstruction...

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