Ore minerals can be metallic and non-metallic.
When the ore minerals are extracted the host rock is extracted too, within this may be minerals of economic unimportance, these are often termed gangue minerals. Some gangue minerals are important for industrial use, these are listed under Gangue minerals. No particular mineral can be assigned to any one deposit, all deposits are different and therefore contain different minerals. There are hundreds of ore minerals and gangue minerals the most common are listed on this page. The diagnostic characteristics of these minerals are stated in terms of what they look like with the naked eye, these characteristics have blue subheadings.