Minerals and Ores

Monazite is a phosphate mineral that is the primary commercial source of thorium, along with containing rare earth elements. It is not an ore of titanium (which comes from ilmenite/rutile), zirconium (zircon), or iron (hematite/magnetite).

Bauxite is the principal ore of aluminium, containing hydrated aluminium oxides. Galena is lead ore, calamine is zinc ore, and calcite is calcium carbonate. Bauxite must be processed through the Bayer process to extract aluminium metal.

Pitchblende (also known as uraninite) is a uranium-rich mineral ore that served as the primary historical source for radium extraction. Marie Curie processed tons of pitchblende to isolate radium. Rutile is a titanium ore, haematite is an iron ore, and limestone is calcium carbonate.

Diamond is the hardest known naturally occurring substance on Earth, ranking 10 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Its exceptional hardness comes from the strong covalent bonds between carbon atoms in its crystal structure.

India has the world's largest monazite deposits, particularly along the coasts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha. Monazite is a primary source of thorium, a strategic nuclear fuel.

Mica is a non-metallic mineral used in electrical insulation and cosmetics. Aluminium, Tin, and Gold are all metallic elements. Mica has distinct physical properties - it can be split into thin transparent sheets and is a poor conductor of electricity.

This is the correct answer. The mineral processing like grinding of limestone for cement industry and calcite and soap-stone for ceramic industry generate huge quantity of dust in the atmosphere. It retards the process of infiltration of water into the soil after it settles down on the land.

This is the correct answer. India has got the right to mine manganese nodules from the bed of Indian Ocean from the area which lies beyond the exclusive economic zone and lies in the international waters.

Bauxite (Al2O3·2H2O) is the principal ore of aluminium. Hematite is an iron ore. Pyrite is iron sulfide (fool's gold). Rutile is a titanium ore. Aluminium is primarily extracted from bauxite ore.

Diamond is the hardest known natural mineral on Earth, scoring 10 on the Mohs hardness scale. Its exceptional hardness comes from the strong covalent bonds between carbon atoms arranged in a tetrahedral lattice structure.

P. Cuprite (Cu₂O) has 88.8% copper while chalcocite (Cu₂S) has 79.8% copper. Q. Chalcopyrite is called blister copper. It has the chemical composition CuFeS₂. Chalcocite (Cu₂S) is an important copper ore. It is also known as redruthite or vitreous copper. R. Goethite is a hydroxide ore of iron with the chemical formula of FeO(OH).

Azurite (2CuCO₃•Cu(OH)₂) is commonly known as mountain blue or American stone.

Zincite (ZnO) is the oxide ore of zinc.

Iron pyrite (FeS₂) has a yellow metallic appearance and so it is called fool’s gold. It was mistaken for gold in the ancient times.

The ores of iron are: Marcasite or iron pyrite (FeS₂): sulphide ore Haematite (Fe₂O₃): oxide ore Magnetite (Fe₃O₄): oxide ore Orpiment (As₂S₃) is the sulphide ore of arsenic.