Publications

In 1996, at the request of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, a team of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists produced a strategic plan for the acquisition, improvement and modernization of multidisciplinary sets of data to support the growth of the Mauritanian minerals sector and to highlight the geological and mineral exploration potential of the country. In 1999...

In 1996, at the request of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, a team of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists produced a strategic plan for the acquisition, improvement and modernization of multidisciplinary sets of data to support the growth of the Mauritanian minerals sector and to highlight the geological and mineral exploration potential of the country. In 1999...

In 1996, at the request of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, a team of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists produced a strategic plan for the acquisition, improvement and modernization of multidisciplinary sets of data to support the growth of the Mauritanian minerals sector and to highlight the geological and mineral exploration potential of the country. In 1999...

The Blackbird district, east-central Idaho, contains the largest known Co reserves in the United States. The origin of strata-hosted Co-Cu ± Au mineralization at Blackbird has been a matter of controversy for decades. In order to differentiate among possible genetic models for the deposits, including various combinations of volcanic, sedimentary, magmatic, and metamorphic processes, we...

As a result of extensive gold and silver mining in the Mojave Desert, southern California, mine wastes and tailings containing highly elevated arsenic (As) concentrations remain exposed at a number of former mining sites. Decades of weathering and erosion have contributed to the mobilization of As-enriched tailings, which now contaminate surrounding communities. Fluvial transport plays...

The Idaho cobalt belt is a 60-km-long alignment of deposits composed of cobaltite, Co pyrite, chalcopyrite, and gold with anomalous Nb, Y, Be, and rare-earth elements (REEs) in a quartz-biotite-tourmaline gangue hosted in Mesoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks of the Lemhi Group. It is the largest cobalt resource in the United States with historic production from the Blackbird Mine. All...

The article offers information on tungsten. It says that tungsten is a metal found in chemical compounds such as in the scheelite and ore minerals wolframite. It states that tungsten has the highest melting point and it forms a compound as hard as diamond when combined with carbon. It states that tungsten can be used as a substitute for lead in fishing weights, ammunition, and hunting...

Garnet has been used as a gemstone since the Bronze Age. However, garnet's angular fractures, relatively high hardness and specific gravity, chemical inertness, and nontoxicity make it ideal for many industrial applications. It is also free of crystalline silica and can be recycled.

Fifteen companies mined kaolin in nine states in 2011. Production, on the basis of preliminary data, was estimated to be 5.48 Mt (6.04 million st) valued at $822 million, an increase from 5.42 Mt (5.97 million st) valued at $788 million in 2010. Production in Georgia, the top producing state, increased to an estimated 5.1 Mt (5.62 million st) valued at $790 million in 2011 from 5.05 Mt...

The United States is import-reliant for nearly all of the bauxite that it consumes. Small amounts of bauxite and bauxitic clays are produced in Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia for nonmetallurgical uses. Metallurgical-grade bauxite (crude dry) imports in 2011 totaled 9.54 Mt (10.5 million st), 18 percent more than the quantity imported in 2010. Jamaica (54 percent). Guinea (25 percent) and...

In 2011, world potash production consumption and sales increased from those of 2010, exceeding levels recorded before the economic downturn in 2008-2009.

Estimated 2011 world production of natural and synthetic industrial diamond was about 4.45 billion carats. During 2011, natural industrial diamonds were produced in more than 20 countries, and synthetic industrial diamond was produced in at least 13 countries. About 98 percent of the combined natural and synthetic global output was produced in China, Ireland, Japan, Russia, South Africa...