Calamine (mineral) enough was known of metallic zinc to make brass solder directly by combining copper and spelter (zinc ingots). In 1738 a patent was granted to William Champion, a Bristol brass founder, for the large-scale reduction of calamine to produce spelter. In 1684 a paper presented to the Royal Society touched on the medicinal and veterinary properties of the compound when in finely powdered form. Calamine (mineral) Calamine is a historic name for an ore of zinc. The name "calamine" was derived from "lapis calaminaris", a Latin corruption of Greek "cadmia (καδμία)", the old name for zinc ores in general. The
Coltan The operations previously owned by Gwalia in Wodgina and Greenbushes continue to operate in some capacity. Coltan Coltan (short for columbite–tantalites and known industrially as tantalite) is a dull black metallic ore, from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted. The niobium-dominant mineral in coltan is columbite (after niobium's original American name "columbium"), and the tantalum-dominant mineral is tantalite. Tantalum from coltan is used to manufacture batteries for electric cars, and in tantalum capacitors it is used in electronic products. Coltan mining has helped to finance serious conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example the Ituri conflict