Friday, January 21, 2011

The Truth About Mineral Water Benefits and Water Purification



For the most part, people understand that drinking mineral water is a good thing. However, many people are unaware of the complete spectrum of mineral water benefits.

We all know that our body needs minerals to survive and thrive. It was obvious to me from the start that mineral water benefits the body, because minerals from it are more easily absorbed than those from food. But how do I get the minerals and not the stuff I don't need, like heavy metals or prescription drugs which have polluted our drinking water? That's why I started researching mineral revitalization purification systems. And what I found out, left me scratching my head and wondering why anybody would ever go for them.

First, a word about just what are the mineral water benefits we hear so much about. Minerals are needed to maintain overall health-- without them, our body just couldn't function properly. For example, iron helps deliver oxygen; sodium preserves the balance of fluids in out body; sulfate and silica are needed for bone strength and oral health; magnesium helps us manage stress and relaxes our muscles. And, as I said above, minerals we need are much more easily absorbed from water than they are from food or supplements.

If you use distillation or reverse osmosis to purify your drinking water, you end up removing all those beneficial, naturally occurring components, along with the contaminants. Water that's left over is de-mineralized, de-vitalized and de-natured, if you ask me. You can't even use it in a fish bowl. Even worse, if you keep drinking it, over time your body will start cannibalizing its own tissues, as various systems start robbing each other to get the valuable minerals like potassium, magnesium, sodium and calcium so they can function. Yes, it's that bad...

As a matter of fact, I came across a study in which they had mice drink either soft (de-mineralized) water or hard water that had been polluted with things like lead and cadmium . Guess which group had less harmful, disease causing stuff in their bodies? The hard water group!

Given how bad de-mineralized water like you get from reverse osmosis-type filters is, mineral revitalization water purification systems try to preserve the healthful properties of water by undoing some of the damage. Here is what happens: first you remove everything-- good and bad-- from the water; then you try to artificially add the minerals your body needs back into the water.

I have two huge problems with getting the mineral water benefits this way: one, these systems cost a lot; and two, why bother? Think about it for a minute: first you pay to destroy the healthful properties of water and then you pay to re-engineer it so it's once again good for you.

www.made-from-india.com maintains a database for Metals Products manufacturers, exporters, suppliers, importers and wholesalers of mineral & metal products. This consists of asbestos & asbestos products, aluminum, aluminum products, copper & copper products, diamonds-polished, ferroalloy & products, iron & steel castings, iron & steel products, lead & lead products, magnetic materials, metal waste, mining machinery, wire mesh, wire ropes and zinc & zinc products, copper mineral, aluminum mineral, mineral properties, titanium mineral, mineral gemstones, industry metals, Mineral & metals buyers, mineral & metals seller, global minerals and metals.

Friday, January 7, 2011

The Process of Forming Metal



Metals come from mineral bearing rocks known as ores. When ancient people began to discover that adding heat to rock ore would release the metallic properties from the rock, societies began developing industries. Throughout history, cultures who possessed the metals, such as copper and tin, and the know how to develop the metal into tools and artifacts, were the more prosperous nations. Metal had value back then, and was the mark of progress. Today, metal continues to be valuable as evidenced by the fact that an entire industry of metal workers exist solely to shape metal into usable objects. Over the years as technology and the demand for metal objects have increased, the methods for forming metal have also progressed. Today, several types of machines have been engineered to help form metal into precise shapes and sizes.

Metal working can generally be divided into the forming, cutting and joining categories. Forming is the process of changing the shape of a piece of metal by manipulating it into a new shape without removing any of the metal material. Cutting, as the name suggests, is the art of shaping metal by removing excess material and cutting a piece of metal into a specified shape. Joining, on the other hand, consists of forming two pieces of metal together by welding, or melting the two pieces being fused and adding a third, filler metal, to basically glue the shape together. Although all three of these methods are fascinating, this article takes a particular interest in the process of forming metal.

Forming metal refers to the process of taking a piece of metal in one form and manipulating it into a new shape. Metal is formed without adding or taking anything away from the original shape. Basically metal can be formed by subjecting it to heat or by applying mechanical force. Heat can be used to melt the metal completely at which time it can be molded into a new shape. Heat can also be applied to make the metal malleable and more susceptible to the use of mechanical force to shape the metal.

Die casting is an example of adding heat to melt metal and mold it into a new shape. With die casting, high pressure is used to force molten metal into mold cavities. The roll form die process is a modern example of the die system. The second way of using heat to manipulate metal, as mentioned above, is to heat the metal until it is malleable. An example of this process is hot forging, or heating up the metal and then using tools such as hydraulic presses to reshape the metal while it is at a forging temperature. The final way to manipulate metal is through pure mechanical force. The roll forming process is an example of the mechanical force used to bend metal into a specific shape.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Important Information Regarding Mining Minerals



Mining is defined as the extraction of mineral and other materials. Mining involves drilling into the earth. Copper, silver, diamond and gold are some of the minerals gotten from mining.

There are many different steps in the mining of minerals.

Ore body discovery is the first. Ores are rocks from which metals and minerals are obtained. In order to discover ore, lots of prospecting is performed. Exploration is then carried out to establish the value and extent of the ore.

Resource estimation is the second. The size and grade of ore deposits is approximated at this point. This approximation is then applied in feasibility studies that help establish the economics of the ore deposits. This is important as it provides information on whether there is need for additional investment in engineering and estimation studies. It also helps identify the risks.

It is now that viability studies are carried out. This assists in the evaluation of technical risks as well as how financially viable the mineral mining project is. It is at this stage that mining companies decide whether to continue with the project or abandon it.

When the corporations make the decision to work on the venture, they compute the marketability and profitability of the ore concentrates, the financial requirements to get started and the cost of the infrastructure. Mining starts where the studies divulge that the venture is feasible. Consequently, a processing plant is installed.

Different techniques are used in mining. They are divided into two different excavation types. These are underground and surface mining.

Surface mining is the most common. The bulk of minerals, diamond and silver included are gotten through surface mining. Surface mining is carried out by getting rid of all surface vegetation and rock layers. This is done to reach the ore deposits.

On the contrary, the digging of shafts and tunnels with the aim of reaching the ore is what is involved in underground mining, also referred to as subsurface mining.

The mining of minerals requires the use of heavy machinery. As far as land extraction is concerned, bulldozers, explosives, trucks and drills are essential. Miners and the minerals are transported using trams while lifts carry them in and out of the mines. Huge trucks, shovels and cranes are used for purposes of moving large amounts of ore in surface mining. Machinery to be found in processing plants include roasters, crushers, mils and reactors. They help in the extraction of metals, minerals as well as other vital materials from ores.

www.made-from-india.com maintains a database for Metals Products manufacturers, exporters, suppliers, importers and wholesalers of mineral & metal products. This consists of asbestos & asbestos products, aluminum, aluminum products, copper & copper products, diamonds-polished, ferroalloy & products, iron & steel castings, iron & steel products, lead & lead products, magnetic materials, metal waste, mining machinery, wire mesh, wire ropes and zinc & zinc products, copper mineral, aluminum mineral, mineral properties, titanium mineral, mineral gemstones, industry metals, Mineral & metals buyers, mineral & metals seller, global minerals and metals, etc.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

The Source of Gold - Its Ores and Minerals



With the high market prices of gold and silver in recent months, a number of people are wondering about where these metals come from. Gold and silver metals are obtained from a variety of different types of rock ores. Most people think of gold nuggets and such as the source of gold, but the truth is that very little of the new gold produced comes from nuggets - nearly all newly mined gold comes from ores mined from the natural hard rocks that contain gold in tiny, even microscopic particles. This article is created to describe what these ores are like. Gold is found widely diffused in nature even though it is one of the scarcer metals in the earth's crust. Very commonly, gold occurs as the native metal encased within a mineral known as quartz. Sometimes the gold is in a finely divided state, sometimes in particles of considerable size, as nuggets, grains, scales, plates, threads and wires in quartz rock. It occurs also in a finely divided state disseminated through schistose rocks, slates and some sedimentary rocks like limestone. In these cases the rock has been altered by the flow of heated and mineralized waters, often resulting in the impregnation of large amounts of rock with silica, iron and a certain amount of gold. Sometimes the silicified rock even replaces much if not all of the original country rock. While historically speaking vein deposits were the most productive, these disseminated deposits currently yield much of the worlds gold ore.

Within gold ores, the element itself occurs in nature chiefly in the form of native gold, which is by far the most common gold bearing mineral. In various gold ores, the native gold commonly occurs as tiny particles contained within sulfide minerals such as pyrite. Iron pyrite is an exceedingly common mineral associated with gold, but it also serves as a reducing agent. Therefore whenever gold is found encased in pyrite, it is always present as free gold and not as some type of gold sulphide. Gold is also found at times in chalcopyrite, galena and arsenopyrite and stibnite, but not as a rule in such large amounts as may be found in pyrite. Other minerals, like sphalerite, pyrrhotite, magnetite and hematite sometimes carry small amounts of gold as well. Gold also occurs as tellurides such as calaverite. Common gangue minerals in gold ores include quartz, fluorite, calcite and pyrite, but many others can be found in smaller amounts.

General Types of Gold Ores:

Gold deposits are often classified according to their association. The first of these may be catalogued as quartzose. This implies that the gangue mineral is acid, that is, quartz, and that fluorite may abound, or even the other gangue minerals of the alkaline earth group. Not infrequently there appears within the quartz varying amounts of pyrite and even limited quantities of chalcopyrite and galena. These are free milling ores. By a free milling ore, it is meant one that the rock does not require roasting before the gold can be recovered from it. Dry ore is the term often used for this category. The second class of gold ores is auriferous copper ores. These are widely distributed throughout the United States and much of the chalcopyrite is gold bearing. These auriferous copper ores are especially abundant in Colorado, Utah, Montana and British Columbia. They are also present at Gold Hill, North Carolina and in Canada at Newfoundland. The third class of gold ore is auriferous lead ores. The percentage of lead in these rocks is large and the gold content is often small. They are refractory ores like the copper ores. By refractory ore is meant one that requires roasting before extraction processing. The heavy sulphides as copper, lead and antimony require this method of treatment, that is the condition of the gold in the mineral will not allow of its immediate capture with most recovery systems. The fourth class of gold ores comprises the gold-telluride group. The gold telluride ores occur with silver, or with silver, lead and antimony, or as native gold accompanied by other tellurides. These ores are often sent direct to the smelters for treatment. A fifth type is the disseminated ore type. They are often low in grade but large. They fill large fracture and fault zones or replace certain geologic horizons. They are the result of the circulation of large amounts of heated water deep underground.