Calamine the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines for being one of the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system. Calamine is available over the counter as a generic medication. The wholesale cost in the developing world is about US$0.25–3.85 per 100-ml bottle. In the United Kingdom, it costs the National Health Service about £0.44. Calamine is used to treat itchiness. This includes from sunburn, insect bite, or other mild skin conditions. Calamine is mixed with either zinc oxide (ZnO) with about 0.5% ferric oxide (FeO) or a zinc carbonate compound. Calamine lotion is a component of
Iron ore bonded together into molecules. To convert it to metallic iron it must be smelted or sent through a direct reduction process to remove the oxygen. Oxygen-iron bonds are strong, and to remove the iron from the oxygen, a stronger elemental bond must be presented to attach to the oxygen. Carbon is used because the strength of a carbon-oxygen bond is greater than that of the iron-oxygen bond, at high temperatures. Thus, the iron ore must be powdered and mixed with coke, to be burnt in the smelting process. However, it is not entirely as simple as that. Carbon monoxide is