GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Metallic minerals (or metallic ores): Minerals that contain metallic element in their composition (i.e. pyrite, FeS₂).

Industrial minerals (or non-metallic minerals): Any rock, mineral or other naturally occurring substance of economic value, exclusive of metallic ores, mineral fuels, and gemstones.

Chromite: A brownish-black to iron-black mineral of the spinel group (Fe,Mg)(Cr,Al)₂O₄.

Sulphide: A mineral compound characterised by the linkage of sulphur with a metal (i.e. pyrite, FeS₂).

Asbestos: A commercial term applied to a group of silicate minerals that readily separate into thin fibres that are flexible, heat resistant and chemically inert.

Umber: A naturally occurring brown earth that consists of manganese oxides as well as hydrated ferric oxide, silica, alumina and lime.

Ochre: An earthy red, yellow or brown iron oxide that is used as a pigment.

Bentonite: A soft, plastic, light-coloured rock composed essentially of clay minerals of the montorillonite group plus colloidal silica, and produced by chemical alteration of glassy igneous material.

Aggregates: Any of several hard, inert materials, such as sand, gravel or crushed stone, used for mixing with a cementing or bituminous material to form concrete, mortar or plaster.

Plutonic rocks: A rock formed at considerable depth by crystallisation (solidification) of magma and/or by chemical alteration.

Magma crystallisation: Crystallisation of naturally occurring mobile molten rock material generated within the Earth, from which igneous rocks are thought to have been derived through solidification and related processes.

Oceanic crust: The type of Earth’s crust (outer layer), which underlies the ocean basins. It is about 5-10 km thick and has a density of about 3 g/cm³. 

Seafloor spreading: A hypothesis that the oceanic crust is increasing by convective upwelling of magma along the mid-oceanic ridges (a continuous median mountain range extending through the North and South Atlantic Oceans, the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean, producing new crustal material), and the moving-away of the new material at a rate of 1 - 10 cm per year.

Chrysotile asbestos: A white, grey or greenish mineral which is highly fibrous and a silky variety of serpentine.  It constitutes the most important type of asbestos. 

Serpentinisation: Serpentinisation is the product of hydration of the harzburgite (rock type), which produces a group of minerals of the serpentinite that have the same chemical composition with the parent rock (harzburgite), but occupy a larger volume and have a much lower specific gravity.  Serpentinisation occurs from hydrothermal fluids that circulate in the parent rock along fractures.

Calcarenite: A limestone consisting of predominantly (more than 50%) calcite particles of sand size (consolidated calcareous sand).

Montomorillonite: A group of clay minerals.

Terra verde: In Cyprus it is the mineral celadonite, which is a soft green or grey-green earthy mineral, consisting of a hydrous silicate of iron, magnesium, and potassium, and generally occurring in cavities in basaltic rocks; a synonym for green earth. Generally, any of various naturally occurring silicates used mainly as bases for green basic dyes and pigments.

Pyrite ore bodies: A continuous, well - defined mass of pyrite ore. Its content is economically feasible for extraction.

Ophiolite: The group of mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks. (Mafic: This is the composition of an igneous rock, which contains ferromagnesian and dark-coloured minerals. Ultramafic: This is the composition of an igneous rock, which has been composed chiefly by mafic minerals).