Types of ores

Ore is a mineral substance (rock) from which it is economically feasible to extract useful components (metals). The main criterion for classifying ores was the difference in the processing and enrichment of raw materials depending on their component and chemical composition.

The main types of ores, according to the component composition of the ore, are divided into metallic and non-metallic. Metallic ores include ores in which useful components are represented by metals, in non-metallic ores, the ore is represented by various minerals and does not contain metals. Metals, as is known, are divided into two groups: non-ferrous and ferrous, therefore, ores of non-ferrous and ferrous metals are distinguished. The classification of ores of ferrous and non-ferrous metals is presented in Table 1.

Ore type	Variety
Metallic ores	Ferrous metal ores	Magnetite quartzites
		Magnetite (skarn) ores
		Hematite-magnetite ores
		Magnetomagnetite ores
		Titanium-magnetite ores
		Brown iron ores
		Manganese ores
		Chromite ores
	Non-ferrous metal ores	Sulfide	Ores in which metals are in the form of sulfur compounds	Copper ores
				Copper-nickel ores
				Lead-zinc ores
				Polymetallic ores
				Cobalt ores
				Antimony ores, etc.
		Oxidized	Ores in which metals are present in the form of various oxygen-containing compounds (oxides, carbonates, hydroxides, etc.)	Aluminum ores
				Nickel ores
				Copper ores
				Cobalt ores, etc.
		Mixed	Ores in which metals can be found in both sulfide and oxidized forms.	Copper ores, etc.
		Native	Ores containing metals in a free state	Gold
				Silver
				Platinum
				Native copper, etc.

Table 1 - Classification of metal ores

Minerals that do not contain metals include: native sulfur, piezoquartzite, diamond, emerald, ruby, and others. A detailed classification of non-metallic ores is presented below.

Ore type	Variety	Material composition
Non-metallic ores	Chemical and agronomic raw materials	Halolites (salts), apatites, phosphorites, native sulfur, arsenic ores, pyrite, barite, fluorite, borates, datolite, glauconite, etc.
	Metallurgical and thermal insulation raw materials	Dolomites, limestones, talc, magnesite, quartzite, fluorspar, kyanite, refractory clays, graphite, chromite, chrysotile asbestos, vermiculite, etc.
	Technical raw materials	Muscovite, phlogopite, diamond, corundum, topaz, garnets, talc, barite, etc.
	Piezo-optical raw materials	Piezo quartz, tourmaline, optical fluorite, Iceland spar, optical quartz, barite
	Colored precious and ornamental stones	Diamond, emerald, alexandrite, ruby, sapphire, topaz, amethyst, agate, opal, obsidian, jasper, rhodonite, lapis lazuli, nephrite, jadeite, anhydrite, etc.
	Construction materials (building and facing stones, fillers, hydraulic additives, mineral paints, etc.)	Gravel, sand, igneous rocks, marble, limestone, sandstone, pumice, chalk, ocher, etc., as well as artificial lightweight concrete fillers: expanded clay, shungizite, expanded perlite, etc.
	Glass and ceramic raw materials	Glass sands, feldspars, pegmatites, kaolinites, quartz, clays, porcelain stones, etc.
	Cement raw materials (binding materials)	Limestones, marls, clays, trasses, tuffs, pozzolans, gypsum, anhydrite, opoka, etc.
	Raw materials for new industries (production of artificial fibers and mica, mineral wool, stone casting, etc.)	Diabases, basalts, clays, quartz sands, etc.

Metallic ores can be either monometallic (containing only one metal) or polymetallic (in which the ore is a mixture of several metals). In most cases, the ore contains several metals, for example, copper ores often contain zinc, lead and iron. Therefore, when extracting the main components from polymetallic ores, it becomes economically advantageous to extract secondary components (metals), even if the concentrations of these secondary components are quite small, for example, gold extraction.