Conserving Minerals : Geography

Minerals are basically non-renewable resources. They take thousands of years for the formation and concentration of minerals. Some important minerals, like coal, were formed millions of years ago.

Most of the oil found in the crust of the Earth were also formed millions of years ago, but some very small amount were formed only a few hundred years old or perhaps even thousand years ago.

The rate of formation is much smaller than the rate at which humans consume these minerals. It is necessary to reduce wastage in the process of mining. Recycling of metals is another way to conserve mineral resources.

Metals are hard substances found in the earth’s crust, usually in combination with impurities; it imparts hardness properties to the substances that contain it. Metals are generally solid at room temperature and can be hammered into thin sheets or rolled into long bars like copper, aluminium, steel, tin etc.