Contributions to Industrial-Minerals Research

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Bulletin 2209–A

Preface—an Overview of Recent U.S. Geological 

Survey Research in Industrial Minerals

Chapter A of
Contributions to Industrial-Minerals Research

By James D. Bliss, Phillip R. Moyle, and Keith R. Long

Bulletin 2209–A

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey 

Preface—an Overview of Recent U.S. Geological 

Survey Research in Industrial Minerals

James D. Bliss, Phillip R. Moyle, and Keith R. Long, Editors

Chapter A of
U.S. Department of the Interior

Gale A. Norton, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey

Charles G. Groat, Director

Version 1.0, 2003

This publication is available only online at:

http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/b2209-a/

Text edited by George A. Havach

Layout by Stephen L. Scott

Manuscript approved for publication, July 10, 2003

Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication

is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply 

endorsement by the U.S. Government 
Preface—an Overview of Recent U.S. Geological Survey Research in Industrial Minerals 1

Contributions to Industrial-Minerals Research, a 

series of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Bulletin chapters, 

presents research strategies, results, and updates of investigations of industrial minerals by USGS scientists and cooperators. Industrial minerals are defined as valuable nonmetallic, 

nonfuel geologic materials, generally rocks or minerals, 

used in a wide range of construction and industrial applications—for example, sand, gravel, and crushed rock used as 

aggregate for construction; limestone used for cement; phosphate for fertilizers and insecticides; and diatomite used for 

filtration, fillers, and abrasives. The term also comprises some 

processed materials, such as cement and metallic compounds 

with major utilization in nonmetallic forms. For example, 

titanium is commonly grouped with industrial minerals 

because more than 90 percent of it is sold and utilized in the 

form of the oxide (TiO2) rather than as Ti metal. Other metals 

and metallic compounds commonly grouped with industrial 

minerals include Mn, Cr, Fe oxides, and rare-earth elements 

(REEs).

The USGS has a long history of research on industrial 

minerals, particularly studies of deposit characteristics and 

depositional environments. Commodity-oriented studies of 

industrial minerals were a focus of major USGS research 

efforts by the start of the 20th century. During the first half 

of that century, large regional studies were undertaken on 

evaporite minerals, especially potash and clays, pegmatite 

minerals, and phosphate. Although the variety and amount of 

industrial-mineral uses in society had expanded by the second 

half of the century, the scope of industrial-minerals-research 

activities within the USGS had decreased relative to metals. 

The few resource appraisals during the 1970s and 1980s only 

erratically addressed industrial-mineral resources, owing to a 

lack of data, models, and expertise. Early modeling efforts in 

the mid-1980s produced deposit models for only a handful of 

industrial minerals.

Beginning in 1988, the USGS sponsored a series of 

workshops on industrial minerals. The first workshop, on the 

industrial minerals of Arizona, was held in cooperation with 

the Arizona Geological Survey (Tooker, 1989). A similar 

workshop on the industrial minerals of California was held in 

1989, in cooperation with the California Division of Mines 

and Geology. In 1991, the USGS Mineral Resources Program 

considered the results of these workshops and performed a 

self-evaluation of its industrial-minerals research in an internal report entitled “Proposal to Prioritize Commodities.” 

This report recommended that research priority be given to 

the following industrial minerals: aggregate, clay, limestone-dolomite, phosphate, potash, REEs, dimension stone, 

gypsum-anhydrite, wollastonite, and zeolites. In addition, the 

Mineral Resources Program cosponsored additional workshops on the industrial minerals of the Basin and Range Province of the Western United States (1990) in cooperation with 

the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, the Utah Geological Survey, and the Idaho Geological Survey (Tooker, 1992), 

and on the industrial minerals of the Midcontinental United 

States (1995) in cooperation with the Arkansas Geological 

Commission, the Illinois Geological Survey, the Kansas Geological Survey, the Kentucky Geological Survey, the Missouri 

Division of Geology and Land Survey, the Nebraska Division 

of Conservation and Survey, and the Oklahoma Geological 

Survey.

Concurrently, in the early 1990s, additional industrial-mineral-deposit models were developed in support of 

quantitative mineral-resource assessment. These models 

included descriptive, grade-and-tonnage, and spatial models 

for approximately 50 industrial-mineral-deposit types and 

subtypes. In 1994, a USGS workshop held in Tucson recommended that the USGS develop a “toolkit” for assessing 

industrial minerals as a part of our regional assessments. In 

the mid-1990s, the minerals yearbook data collection and 

publication function of the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) 

was transferred to the USGS’ Mineral Resources Program as 

the Mineral Information Team with the closure of the USBM. 

This expertise was included in a second Mineral Resources 

Program workshop to address industrial-minerals-research 

priorities in July 1997. In this workshop, the importance of 

incorporating economics, user needs, and environmental 

considerations into our industrial-minerals research was 

emphasized, as were the needs to prioritize industrial-mineral commodities for study and to treat industrial-minerals 

research as equal partners with metals research for staffing 

and budgeting purposes.

Currently, the USGS supports three regional industrial-mineral projects: one each in the Eastern, Central, and 

Western United States. In addition, the Minerals Information 

Team continues to publish yearly statistics on a wide variety 

Preface—an Overview of Recent U.S. Geological 

Survey Research in Industrial Minerals

By James D. Bliss1, Phillip R. Moyle2, and Keith R. Long3

1

U.S. Geological Survey, Tucson, AZ

2

U.S. Geological Survey, Spokane, WA

3

Halstead GeoNumerics, Inc., Portland, Oregon
2 Contributions to Industrial-Minerals Research

of industrial-mineral commodities. In 2001, an informal study 

was conducted of industrial-mineral occurrences, production, 

and markets in the United States to help Western Industrial 

Mineral Project staff prioritize their research strategies and 

commodities. Geographically limited, high-volume, highvalue industrial minerals that fill a critical role in the regional 

and U.S. economy were identified as a high priority. Some 

of the commodities that meet these criteria include the clay 

minerals attapulgite and sepiolite, borates, carbonate rocks, 

diatomite, feldspar, kaolin, phosphate, potash, REEs, silica 

(sand and quartz), soda ash, sulfur, and talc.

An additional issue driving USGS industrial-mineralsresearch priorities is the ongoing conflict between increasing demand for construction materials and the need for 

environmental protection in many rapidly expanding urban 

areas. This concern draws special attention to aggregate, 

which accounts for more than 30 percent of the total value 

of nonfuel mineral production in the United States. The use 

of megaquarries to mitigate such problems is an important 

focus of ongoing study. Diatomite and borate, which occur in 

ancient lacustrine and marine deposits already under study in 

the Western United States, have important regional, national, 

and export markets. Other industrial-mineral deposits in the 

Western United States, such as garnets, REEs, and, potentially, diamonds, also have important national and export 

markets. In addition, selected innovative resource-evaluation 

methods, especially the use of new genetic models, together 

with innovative spatial- and statistical-analysis techniques, 

are being considered for future research. The Contributions 

to Industrial-Minerals Research series serves as a venue for 

timely publication of ongoing and completed research on 

these and other industrial minerals.

References Cited

Tooker, E.W., compiler-ed., 1989, Arizona’s industrial rock and 

mineral resources—workshop proceedings: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1905, 93 p.

———1992, Industrial minerals in the Basin and Range 

region—workshop proceedings: U.S. Geological Survey 

Bulletin 2013, 132 p.