Physical Properties of Minerals cleavage, fracture - how the mineral breaks. Reflects crystalline stucture. Distinctive for some ore minerals. There are about 4000 minerals, yet of these only about two dozen are common. Most of the Earth is made of silicates.
Many ore minerals are oxides.
Many ore minerals are oxides. The are rock forming Carbonates - CO 3 and Ca or Mg. These are important rock forming minerals that make up limestone and dolostone. Native elements - copper, diamond, silver, graphite, sulfur. These are also ore minerals.