Mineral Many sulfide minerals are economically important as metal ores; examples include sphalerite (ZnS), an ore of zinc, galena (PbS), an ore of lead, cinnabar (HgS), an ore of mercury, and molybdenite (MoS, an ore of molybdenum. Pyrite (FeS), is the most commonly occurring sulfide, and can be found in most geological environments. It is not, however, an ore of iron, but can be instead oxidized to produce sulfuric acid. Related to the sulfides are the rare sulfosalts, in which a metallic element is bonded to sulfur and a semimetal such as antimony, arsenic, or bismuth. Like the sulfides, sulfosalts are
Ore dock steel chutes. These chutes project out over the water at a slight angle from the sides of the docks. The hinged chutes, which are lowered to drop ore from the pockets into ships, are located at twelve-foot intervals over the length of the dock. This spacing is not coincidental, as the docks and the lakers they could load evolved together, and laker hatch spacing is typically 12, or on center. Since the late 1800s, ore docks have been a common sight in many Lake Superior ports of Minnesota, Wisconsin and especially Michigan. Rich iron ore deposits were first discovered in