Chalcocite is an important ore of which metallic element?
Chalcocite Chalcocite Chalcocite (), copper(I) sulfide (CuS), is an important copper ore mineral. It is opaque and dark-gray to black with a metallic luster. It has a hardness of - 3 on the Mohs scale. It is a sulfide with an orthorhombic crystal system. The term chalcocite comes from the alteration of the obsolete name "chalcosine", from the Greek "khalkos", meaning copper. It is also known as redruthite, vitreous copper and copper-glance. Chalcocite is sometimes found as a primary vein mineral in hydrothermal veins. However, most chalcocite occurs in the supergene enriched environment below the oxidation zone of copper deposits as
Iron ore iron-making blast furnaces. Iron ore is the raw material used to make pig iron, which is one of the main raw materials to make steel—98% of the mined iron ore is used to make steel. Indeed, it has been argued that iron ore is "more integral to the global economy than any other commodity, except perhaps oil". Metallic iron is virtually unknown on the surface of the Earth except as iron-nickel alloys from meteorites and very rare forms of deep mantle xenoliths. Although iron is the fourth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, comprising about 5%, the vast majority