Industrial minerals

Industrial minerals are geological materials which are mined for their commercial value, which are not fuel (fuel minerals or mineral fuels) and are not sources of metals (metallic minerals). They are used in their natural state or after beneficiation either as raw materials or as additives in a wide range of applications.

Typical examples of industrial rocks and minerals are limestone, clays, sand, gravel, diatomite, kaolin, bentonite, silica, barite, gypsum, and talc. Some examples of applications for industrial minerals are construction, ceramics, paints, electronics, filtration, plastics, glass, detergents and paper.

In some cases, even organic materials (peat) and industrial products or by-products (cement, slag, silica fume) are categorized under industrial minerals, as well as metallic compounds mainly utilized in non-metallic form (as an example most of the titanium is utilized as an oxide TiO₂ rather than Ti metal).

In some cases, organic substances (such as peat) are categorized as industrial minerals. This case, however, violates the technical definition of a "mineral." A substance must be a mineral before it may be categorized as an industrial mineral. Peat is a geologic substance mined for its economic value but that does not mandate that it be referred to as a mineral or as an industrial mineral.

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