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Minerals and Allied Natural Resources and their Sustainable DevelopmentIntroduction

Minerals and Allied Natural Resources and their Sustainable Development: Introduction [Minerals, both metallic and nonmetallic, and building stones have played key role in shaping human civilization since ancient times. Demand for and production of these earth resources increased manifold during the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial mineralsrevolution and both have seen an exponential growth during the last century, keeping pace with growing national and global economies. Ever-widening base of mineral use has made minerals an integral part of our everyday life. Mineral deposits are basically geochemical anomalies of one or more metals in a section of the earth’s crust produced by igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary processes, either individually or in conjunction. They become economic deposits or oreOredeposit deposits if they can be worked at a profit, given the economic, sociopolitical, and technological situation at a place. Also crucial in this respect are the grades and tonnage of the deposit, and the cut-off gradeCut-off grade of the metal in question. The process of ore formation is best understood by assessing the nature and geological characteristics of an ore deposit, among other features. The deposit may be dispersedDispersed or confinedConfined, epigeneticEpigenetic or syngeneticSyngenetic, and stratiformStratiform or strataboundStratabound. Each of such features, as well as the morphology of the ore body, will throw light on the endogenousEndogenous or exogenousExogenous ore-forming environment prevailing in the lithosphere during the ore-forming time. Any large body of information about a population in Natural Sciences needs to be grouped or classified in terms of similarities and contrast. In a population of oreOredeposit deposits, no two deposits are exactly identical. When we group them according to their characteristics, we have a classification scheme. But when we specify which characteristics are essential to belong to a group, we have the basis for a mineral deposit model. Many classification schemes, mostly genetic, have been proposed since the beginning of the last century, culminating in the UNFC scheme of 2009. A classification scheme that integrates host rocks and tectonic setting are most useful. Thus, tectono-lithological classification schemes are now more popular since genetic classifications are often fraught with controversies. However, magmatic, metamorphic, and sedimentary oreOredeposit deposits still provide the best overall classification. Based on the current understanding of mineral-forming processes and products, a new scheme of classification has been proposed in this book. The mineral deposit models, on the other hand, are based on both regional and local attributes of deposits. They are divided into two end members: (1) the empirical or occurrenceModeloccurrence probability model, based on observational data; and (2) the genetic or conceptual model, based on theoretical concepts. The models are useful in regional exploration programs. However, some models are still not mature (e.g., Iron oxide-copper-gold deposits) while others are fairly mature, based on robust databases (e.g., placer gold, sediment-hosted Pb–Zn deposits).] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

Minerals and Allied Natural Resources and their Sustainable DevelopmentIntroduction

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Publisher
Springer Singapore
Copyright
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017
ISBN
978-981-10-4563-9
Pages
3 –27
DOI
10.1007/978-981-10-4564-6_1
Publisher site
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Abstract

[Minerals, both metallic and nonmetallic, and building stones have played key role in shaping human civilization since ancient times. Demand for and production of these earth resources increased manifold during the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial mineralsrevolution and both have seen an exponential growth during the last century, keeping pace with growing national and global economies. Ever-widening base of mineral use has made minerals an integral part of our everyday life. Mineral deposits are basically geochemical anomalies of one or more metals in a section of the earth’s crust produced by igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary processes, either individually or in conjunction. They become economic deposits or oreOredeposit deposits if they can be worked at a profit, given the economic, sociopolitical, and technological situation at a place. Also crucial in this respect are the grades and tonnage of the deposit, and the cut-off gradeCut-off grade of the metal in question. The process of ore formation is best understood by assessing the nature and geological characteristics of an ore deposit, among other features. The deposit may be dispersedDispersed or confinedConfined, epigeneticEpigenetic or syngeneticSyngenetic, and stratiformStratiform or strataboundStratabound. Each of such features, as well as the morphology of the ore body, will throw light on the endogenousEndogenous or exogenousExogenous ore-forming environment prevailing in the lithosphere during the ore-forming time. Any large body of information about a population in Natural Sciences needs to be grouped or classified in terms of similarities and contrast. In a population of oreOredeposit deposits, no two deposits are exactly identical. When we group them according to their characteristics, we have a classification scheme. But when we specify which characteristics are essential to belong to a group, we have the basis for a mineral deposit model. Many classification schemes, mostly genetic, have been proposed since the beginning of the last century, culminating in the UNFC scheme of 2009. A classification scheme that integrates host rocks and tectonic setting are most useful. Thus, tectono-lithological classification schemes are now more popular since genetic classifications are often fraught with controversies. However, magmatic, metamorphic, and sedimentary oreOredeposit deposits still provide the best overall classification. Based on the current understanding of mineral-forming processes and products, a new scheme of classification has been proposed in this book. The mineral deposit models, on the other hand, are based on both regional and local attributes of deposits. They are divided into two end members: (1) the empirical or occurrenceModeloccurrence probability model, based on observational data; and (2) the genetic or conceptual model, based on theoretical concepts. The models are useful in regional exploration programs. However, some models are still not mature (e.g., Iron oxide-copper-gold deposits) while others are fairly mature, based on robust databases (e.g., placer gold, sediment-hosted Pb–Zn deposits).]

Published: Jun 21, 2017

Keywords: Mineral use in history; Economic mineral deposits; Ore deposits; Ore and gangue minerals; Grade and tonnage; Cut-off grade; Reserves and resource; Stratabound and stratiform; Dispersed and confined; Syngenetic and epigenetic; Deposit classification; Mineral deposit modeling; Empirical models; Conceptual models

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