Economic geology

Economic geology is concerned with earth materials that can be used for economic and/or
industrial purposes. These materials include precious and base metals, nonmetallic minerals,
construction-grade stone, petroleum minerals, coal, and water. The term commonly refers to metallic
mineral deposits and mineral resources. The techniques employed by other earth science disciplines
(such as geochemistry, mineralogy, geophysics, petrology and structural geology) might all be used
to understand, describe, and exploit an ore deposit.
Economic geology is studied and practiced by geologists. owe!er it is of prime interest
to in!estment ban"ers, stoc" analysts and other professions such as engineers, en!ironmental
scientists, and conser!ationists because of the far-reaching impact that extracti!e industries ha!e on
society, the economy, and the en!ironment.
Contents
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% &ineral resources
' (re geology
) *oal and petroleum geology
+ ,eferences
- .ee also
Mineral resources#edit$
Main article: Mineral resource classification
&ineral resources are concentrations of minerals significant for current and future societal needs.
(re is classified as minerali/ation economically and technically feasible for extraction. 0ot all
minerali/ation meets these criteria for !arious reasons. The specific categories of minerali/ation in
an economic sense are1
Mineral occurrences or prospects of geological interest but not necessarily economic interest
Mineral resources include those potentially economically and technically feasible and those
that are not
Ore reserves, which must be economically and technically feasible to extract
Ore geology#edit$
Citrobacter species can ha!e concentrations of uranium in their bodies )22 times higher than in the surrounding en!ironment.
Main article: ore genesis
3eologists are in!ol!ed in the study of ore deposits, which includes the study of ore genesis and the
processes within the Earth4s crust that form and concentrate ore minerals into economically !iable
quantities.
.tudy of metallic ore deposits in!ol!es the use of structural geology, geochemistry, the study
of metamorphism and its processes, as well as understanding metasomatism and other processes
related to ore genesis.
(re deposits are delineated by mineral exploration, which
uses geochemical prospecting, drilling and resource estimation !ia geostatistics to quantify
economic ore bodies. The ultimate aim of this process is mining.