Minerals are mineral formations that are located in the earth's crust. Due to the presence of physical and chemical properties, they are used in various fields of industrial production. Minerals can be gaseous, solid or liquid.
Mineral formations occur in the form of different types of clusters. They can be represented by stocks, placers, layers, veins. Those places where minerals are discovered are called deposits. The discipline that develops these is called mining.
Depending on their practical or technical properties, minerals are used in one or another industrial field.
Combustible mineral formations include oil, coal, shale, natural gas, peat and other resources, the processing of which produces thermal energy.
Mining and chemical accumulations include mineral salts, borates, phosphates and other substances. They are used in the mining and chemical industry.
A separate type of mineral is hydromineral accumulations. They are represented as groundwater.
Mineral formations also include gems and gems.
There are also non-metallic minerals. They are represented by deposits of apatite, phosphorite, rock and potassium salts, marls, and limestones. Mineral formations such as sandstones, clays, sulfur, asbestos, graphite, mica, quartz, marble, fluorspar and others belong to the same category.
Apatites and phosphorites are used as feedstock for the production of phosphate fertilizers. The largest apatite deposit is considered to be the Khibinskoye deposit. It is located on the Kola Peninsula. According to experts, its balance reserves amount to about 2.7 billion tons. Apatite ores mined at this site are delivered to the country's superphosphate plants. In addition, they are also the raw material basis for the production of alumina due to the high content of nepheline.
Phosphorites mainly occur in the European part of Russia. The largest deposit is Vyatsko-Kamskoye; it is located in the Kirov region. Concentrations in the Moscow, Bryansk, Kursk, and Leningrad regions are considered large enough. Separate phosphorite deposits have also been discovered in Chuvashia and Bashkortostan.
For the manufacture of potash fertilizers, salts of the same name are used. On the territory of the Urals, in the Perm Territory, the Verkhnekamsk deposit is located. It is considered the largest accumulation of potassium salts. It contains the main share of all stocks of this raw material in Russia. The balance reserves amount to about 21.7 billion tons.
Sulfur pyrite and sulfur are used to make sulfuric acid. Large deposits of this substance were found in the North Caucasus (in Dagestan), the Samara region, and the Far East. Sulfur pyrite is found in large numbers in the Urals. Accumulations of salt are also located here. Large deposits are Verkhnekamsk and Iletsk. In addition, salt is mined in the Lower Volga region, in Eastern Siberia, in the Far East.
Mica is mined in the Murmansk region and the Republic of Karelia, as well as in the northern part of Siberia, the Urals and the Far East.
Ore minerals include non-ferrous, ferrous ores, as well as precious metals.
Today, field development is considered one of the priority industrial sectors. This is mainly due to the fact that mineral formations are the most important raw material that ensures the functioning of different systems and structures. The extraction of land reserves is carried out using various special equipment by experienced qualified specialists.