Geography of Illinois before the dinosaurs. Galena, a lead ore, has been mined in the northwest corner of the state. The ore was processed around Peru, Illinois, where river transport was available to bring the ore to a source of coal. About six tons of coal are needed for each ton of ore. Fluorite, calcium fluoride, is the state mineral. It is mined in the southeastern portion of the state, around Metropolis. Fluorine gas is produced from fluorite. This is used in the production of uranium hexafluoride in Metropolis, Illinois for use at the gaseous diffusion plant in Paducah, Kentucky. Geodes can be
Ore Mountains mining in the southern forelands of the Ore Mountains. Europe's largest deposits of lithium-bearing mica zinnwaldite in Cínovec, a Czech village between town of Dubí and the border with Germany which gave its old German name Zinnwald to the mineral, are expected to be mined starting 2019 (as of June 2017). When several Ore Mountain passes were upgraded into "chaussees" in the 19th century, and the Upper Ore Mountains were accessed by the railway, tourism began to develop. One of the early promoters of tourism in the Ore Mountains was Otto Delitsch. In 1907, a memorial was erected to him