Raw Material Chromite

The raw material for all chromium chemicals is chrome iron ore, so-called chromite, which is a spinel. It contains magnesium and aluminum as minor constituents and has the approximate composition (Fe, Mg)[Cr,Al,Fe(III)]204. Calcium, silicon dioxide and, in some cases, vanadium are also present in small quantities. 

The certain reserves of chromite were estimated in 1975 to be 2.8 10 t, the probable reserves to be 5.4 10 t. Of the certain reserves 74% are in South Africa and 20% in Zimbabwe. In South Africa the reserves are so large that the mining companies have not bothered to determine them accurately. Exhau.stion of the reserves in the near future is not to be expected. Important extracting countries outside Southern Africa are (in alphabetical order) Albania, Brazil, Finland, the former States of the USSR, India, Iran, Madagascar, the Philippines and Turkey. Table 3.3-2 gives the chromite extraction figures for 1992. 

Depending upon the minor constituents present, such as magnesium and aluminum, chromite is utilized in  

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