What is the difference between a rock and a ore?

Answer 1

Ore, is a rock which contains minerals of economic value and which are able to be extracted:

• it must be economic to extract the mineral - a company must be able to make a profit
• it must be legal to undertake the extraction process
• it must be technically possible to extract the valuable mineral

If all these criteria are met then the concentration of valuable minerals are known as an ore deposit.

The above criteria are also dependent on features other than geology. For example the same deposits economic viability may depend on the value at which the resultant mined material is traded on international markets which changes over time or even on the cost of extraction in a given country versus the cost of paying for and importing a mineral from Another Country. For example coal is no longer mined in significant quantities in the UK as it is cheaper to buy and import coal from abroad. The intrinsic quantaty or concentration of coal within the rocks of the UK hasn't changed, however the relative value has so it is no longer considered economically viable.

It may also depend on the use to which the material is put or the demand for the material in question. The legality of mining the ore may depend on political or ecological factors. It may be that some parties would actively resist the granting of mining licenses in potentially sensitive environments.

Finally technology progresses over time and some deposits that currently are not feasible to extract may become so in the future as extraction or processing techniques improve. An example of this was the development of the technique "Induced hydraulic fracturing" often shortened to "Fracking" which used hydraulic fluids pumped into rock masses to promote fracturing which increases the ability to extract fluids and gasses thus making a previously non-economic deposit, economic to extract. This example crosses into the legal example above in that this process (Induced hydraulic fracturing) has met with public opposition in some areas as it is thought to have potentially affected the quality of groundwater as well as been the cause of some small (<2.0 magnitude earthquakes in the UK and one in the US of magnitude 4.0).

Answer 2

Ore, is a rock which contains minerals of economic value and which are able to be extracted:

• it must be economic to extract the mineral - a company must be able to make a profit
• it must be legal to undertake the extraction process
• it must be technically possible to extract the valuable mineral

If all these criteria are met then the concentration of valuable minerals are known as an ore deposit.

The above criteria are also dependent on features other than geology. For example the same deposits economic viability may depend on the value at which the resultant mined material is traded on international markets which changes over time or even on the cost of extraction in a given country versus the cost of paying for and importing a mineral from Another Country. For example coal is no longer mined in significant quantities in the UK as it is cheaper to buy and import coal from abroad. The intrinsic quantaty or concentration of coal within the rocks of the UK hasn't changed, however the relative value has so it is no longer considered economically viable.

It may also depend on the use to which the material is put or the demand for the material in question. The legality of mining the ore may depend on political or ecological factors. It may be that some parties would actively resist the granting of mining licenses in potentially sensitive environments.

Finally technology progresses over time and some deposits that currently are not feasible to extract may become so in the future as extraction or processing techniques improve. An example of this was the development of the technique "Induced hydraulic fracturing" often shortened to "Fracking" which used hydraulic fluids pumped into rock masses to promote fracturing which increases the ability to extract fluids and gasses thus making a previously non-economic deposit, economic to extract. This example crosses into the legal example above in that this process (Induced hydraulic fracturing) has met with public opposition in some areas as it is thought to have potentially affected the quality of groundwater as well as been the cause of some small (<2.0 magnitude earthquakes in the UK and one in the US of magnitude 4.0).