Group 12 element zinc and cadmium which makes geological separation unlikely. As a consequence, cadmium is produced mainly as a byproduct from mining, smelting, and refining sulfidic ores of zinc, and, to a lesser degree, lead and copper. One place where metallic cadmium can be found is the Vilyuy River basin in Siberia. Although mercury is an extremely rare element in the Earth's crust, because it does not blend geochemically with those elements that constitute the majority of the crustal mass, mercury ores can be highly concentrated considering the element's abundance in ordinary rock. The richest mercury ores contain up to 2.5% mercury
Ore Metal Exchange aims to add uranium to its list of metals on warrant. The World Bank reports that China was the top importer of ores and metals in 2005 followed by the US and Japan. DILL, H.G. (2010) "The “chessboard” classification scheme of mineral deposits: Mineralogy and geology from aluminum to zirconium," Earth-Science Reviews, Volume 100, Issue 1-4, June 2010, Pages 1-420 Ore An ore is an occurrence of rock or sediment that contains sufficient minerals with economically important elements, typically metals, that can be economically extracted from the deposit. The ores are extracted from the earth through mining; they