Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, deep purple, to rusty red. The iron itself is usually found in the form of magnetite (Fe₃O₄), hematite (Fe₂O₃), goethite, limonite or siderite. Hematite is also known as "natural ore". The name refers to the early years of mining, when certain hematite ores contained 66% iron and could be fed directly into iron making blast furnaces. Iron ore is the raw material used to make pig iron, which is one of the main raw materials to make steel. 98% of the mined iron ore is used to make steel.

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Lateritic nickel ore is formed by intensive tropical weathering of ultramafic rocks above all serpentinites which consist largely of the magnesium silicate serpentine and contains approx. 0,3% nickel. This initial nickel content is strongly enriched in the course of lateritization. Two kinds of lateritic nickel ore have to be distinguished: limonite types and silicate types.

• Limonite type laterites (or oxide type) are highly enriched in iron due to very strong leaching of magnesium and silica. They consist largely of goethite and contain 1-2% nickel incorporated in goethite. Absence of the limonite zone in the ore deposits is due to erosion.
  
  
• Silicate type (or saprolite type) nickel ore formed beneath the limonite zone. It contains generally 1.5-2.5% nickel and consists largely of Mg-depleted serpentine in which nickel is incorporated. In pockets and fissures of the serpentinite rock green garnierite can be present in minor quantities, but with high nickel contents - mostly 20-40%. It is bound in newly formed phyllosilicate minerals. All the nickel in the silicate zone is leached downwards (absolute nickel concentration) from the overlying goethite zone.

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Chromite, iron magnesium chromium oxide: (Fe, Mg)Cr₂O₄, is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. Magnesium is always present in variable amounts, also A luminium and Iron substitute for Chromium.

Chromite is found in peridotite and other layered ultramafic intrusive rocks and also found in metamorphic rocks such as serpentinites. Ore deposits of chromite form as early magmatic differentiates. It is commonly associated with Olivine, Magnetite, Serpentine, and Corundum. The vast Bushveld igneous complex of South Africa is a large layered mafic to ultramafic igneous body with some layers consisting of 90% chromite making the rare rock type, chromitite.

Chromite is also used as a refractory material.

The only ore of Chromium is the mineral Chromite. In the western hemisphere, Chromite Ore is produced only in Brazil and Cuba; Comparison, about 80% of world production of chromite comes from India, Iran, Pakistan, Oman, Zimbabwe, Turkey and Southern Africa. Southern Africa itself produces about 50% of this.

Chromite is mined from the ultramafic rocks in the Zhob District of Balochistan. Most of the Chromite is of metallurgical grade with Cr₂O₃ averaging 46% and a chrome to iron ratio of 3:1.

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Most high grade Copper Sulfide Ores, containing about 0.25% to 5% copper metal (the rest being unwanted rock), are concentrated using the froth flotation process. Ground ore is mixed with xanthate reagents (or other reagents of the thiol class), which react with the Copper Sulfide mineral to make it Hydrophobic on its surface. (Besides xanthates, dithiophosphates and thionocarbamates are commonly used).

The sulfide ore is crushed and ground to increase the surface area of the ore for subsequent processing. The powdered ore is mixed with chemicals (the 'collector chemical') and introduced to a water bath (aeration tank) containing surfactant. Air is constantly forced through the slurry and the Hydrophobic Copper Sulfide particles latche onto and ride the air bubbles to the surface, where it forms froth and is skimmed off. These skimmings are generally re-processed (cleaned) to reach a high purity copper concentrate. The remainder is discarded as tailings, or processed to extract other elements.

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