WorldWide Drilling Resource

Hematite is the most important ore mineral of iron. It is an oxide mineral and is found in a variety of colors with red, orange, and brown occurring when the iron in hematite begins to rust. It is mined in some of the largest mines, which require in- vestments of billions of dollars, with some mines removing over 100 million tons of ore per year. Open- pit mines can be hundreds to thousands of feet deep and extend several miles across by the time they have been worked to completion. China, Australia, Brazil, India, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa, and the United States are the world’s leading producers of iron ore such as hematite. In North America, over 90% of iron comes from hematite deposits; and with- out hematite, our steel-based society could not exist. The name hematite is from the Greek word “haimatitis” which means “blood-red,” stemming from the color of hematite when it has been crushed to a fine powder. Primitive people discovered hematite could be crushed and mixed with a liquid for use as a paint or cosmetic. Cave paintings dating back 40,000 years ago were created with hematite pigments. During the Renaissance when many painters began using oils and canvas, hematite was one of the most important pigments as well because the color was opaque and permanent and the mineral could be mixed with a white pigment to produce a variety of pink colors which were used to paint flesh. Today, it is used in applications from lipstick to fire trucks, and most red pigments in our world and society are composed of hematite. Hematite is a very dense and inexpensive material which is effective at stop- ping x-rays. For this reason, it is used for ra-diation shielding around medical and scientific equipment. The low cost and high density of hematite ores also makes them useful as ballast for ships. When hematite is ground to a fine powder and mixed with water, it will make a liquid with a very high specific gravity. These liquids are used in the “float-sink” processing of coal and other mineral material. The crushed coal, which has a very low specific gravity, is placed on the heavy liquid and the light clean coal floats, while high-specific-gravity impurities such as pyrite sink. The World of Minerals MIN 29 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® APRIL 2019