Minerals are inorganic substances with distinct chemical composition and crystal structure, along with well-defined physical properties.
Minerals can be divided into categories according to their luster (how light reflects off their surface) and color, and whether or not they are translucent or opaque.
CNMNC does not recognize amorphous substances as minerals; exceptions include opal and mercury.
Salt
Salt (NaCl) is an essential chemical compound essential to human and animal life, serving as one of the oldest and most universal food seasonings. Salt not only enhances food taste by accentuating meat and highlighting vegetable varieties but it can also clarify soups, preserve food items such as fish and other seafood, preserve soup stocks and reveal melons’ unique sweetness.
Salt is mined from underground deposits and evaporated from seawater and salt water lakes, becoming available as table and rock salt, or coarser varieties that are used for cooking, pickling and making brine. Salt fortification helps prevent any deficiencies that may be present due to deficiency of this essential iodine source.
Iranian medicine holds salt as the cornerstone of human health, using it for numerous medicinal applications such as latif supply, solvent drying and laxative use for treating phlegm and melancholy; slimy moisture body repellent; opening of the spleen; aiding digestion and increasing appetite. Furthermore, salt also supports transference of nerve impulses as well as regulate blood pressure.
Sulfate
Sulfate (SO42-) is one of the most widespread mineral salts, occurring both naturally in gypsum (CaSO4*2H2O), and artificially as detergents and bath products. Sulfates also play an integral part of many industrial processes involving fertilizers, chemicals, dyes, glass production, paper manufacturing processes, textile production and insecticide use.
Sulfate is an important nutrient found in most water supplies and may become an issue when concentrations surpass 250 mg/L in well water supplies. When first introduced to high levels of sulfate in their drinking water, animals may experience diarrhea symptoms but generally adjust over time.
Sulfates in the United States are predominantly produced using petroleum, which contributes to climate change and has ethical supply chain concerns. But they can also be made from plant sources, like palm or coconut oil, which are more eco-friendly and pose less risk of eye and skin irritation; production using solar energy would also make production much more sustainable than burning fossil fuels.
Pyrite
Pyrite, an iron sulfide that looks similar to gold and can produce sparks when hit against steel, was known in ancient times as “fool’s gold”, due to being found alongside small amounts of precious metal but worthless to miners who searched for it.
Pyritite is an invaluable mineral for oil-finders as its presence in sediment indicates chemically reducing conditions that were once present and allowed organic carbon, such as plant or animal remains or coaly deposits to remain undisturbed and be preserved over time. Pyrite-sulphur content estimates the total amount of organic carbon present, thus giving an indication of petroleum source rocks richness.
Pyrite is often placed in the Feng Shui home’s prosperity area to bring wealth and luxury into one’s life, as well as help motivate one through life’s trials.
Quartz
Quartz is one of the most adaptable minerals, used in manufacturing as well as electronics and clocks due to its piezoelectric properties. Quartz also forms part of popular gemstone collections believed to balance energy levels and promote spiritual development, and used therapeutically against ailments like chronic fatigue syndrome, arthritis, bone injuries and depression.
Gemstones like amethyst, rose quartz and smoky quartz can display various hues due to impurities present. Their colors range from purple through yellow or orange. You can find it as part of sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks and as hydrothermal veins when hot mineral-rich fluids circulate through fractures in rocks before depositing minerals as they cool.
Quartz sand is mined globally for its physical strength, clarity, and piezoelectric properties. It plays an essential role in concrete and masonry production processes as an ingredient of strength. Furthermore, in the oil and gas industry it plays an integral part of hydraulic fracturing, which involves applying high pressure to fracture rock formations with durable quartz sand maintaining open fractures once pressure has been released, enabling natural gas flow into well bores.
