Industrial Rocks and Minerals: Types and Uses

Posted on Feb 4, 2025 in Geology

Industrial Rocks

Rocks that are exploited by their physicochemical properties, regardless of the substances and energy that may be extracted.

Aggregates: Formed by stones or pieces of various sizes. Used mainly in public works or construction (e.g., basalt, quarries, marble, slate, sand, gravel).
Agglomerates: Formed by a compact mass of material, with a cohesive agglomerating material (e.g., marble, cement, lime, gypsum, margin, clay).
Construction Rocks: Divided into ornamental rocks, which can be cut and polished (e.g., marble, quartzite, limestone, sandstone), and building blocks that can only be cut (e.g., basalt, slate, plutonic rocks).
Glass: Stems mostly from quartz, a mineral found mainly in sand and quartzite, mostly concentrated in veins.

Minerals from which chemical elements are extracted, especially metals, which are the raw material of many industrial products.

Metallic Ore: Minerals that contain extracted metal (e.g., cinnabar – mercury / galena – lead / magnetite – iron / oligist – iron / bauxite – aluminum / malachite – copper).
Non-Metallic Minerals: Minerals from which materials other than metals are extracted (e.g., pyrite – sulfuric acid / calcite – optical / sylvite – fertilizer / gypsum – construction / fluorite – fluorine).

Mine in Gallery: This kind of exploitation is used to exploit mineral concentrates such as veins, strata, etc., that are in quite a lot of depth.

Agricultural Use: With agriculture and other activities, the environment becomes artificial, i.e., it is amended by humans. That agricultural use is profitable depends on its fertility (ability to give a plant the nutrients it needs for growth). For agriculture, good ventilation and drainage of the land are important.

Intensive Agriculture: Intensive agriculture makes land more profitable in less space. It requires more machinery, fertilizer, and pesticide use, and genetically modified seeds.
Traditional Agriculture: It is done on broader land and is less profitable, but more workers use little machinery, organic fertilizers are used, and seeds are natural.

Livestock Use: This activity works with livestock, such as cattle (bulls and cows), swine, equine (horses, mules, and donkeys), ovine (sheep), and poultry (chickens, ducks, geese). It is a technique that works with grazing animals.

Traditional Livestock: Nomadic, and now it has quite a low performance.
Modern Farming: Where animals are kept in stables or outdoors and has better performance than the previous one.

Forest Use: This type of use works with forestry (a set of techniques applied to the exploitation of forests) to produce mainly wood.

Intensive Silviculture: It is not sustainable and is more profitable, as the soil recovers slowly.
Traditional Silviculture: Sustainable exploitation is practiced. It is less profitable, and the soil need not be retrieved because the impact is minimal.

Measures to curb soil erodibility:

Keep the soil with vegetation to reduce erosion processes. (Preventive)
Match the meaning of tillage and agricultural plantations with the contours of the land to prevent erosion by runoff. (Preventive)
Avoid gullies through the construction of dams in ravines. (Preventive)
Make forest reforestation in the process of desertification. (Corrective)
Make stable crop pastures. (Corrective)