Minerals are naturally occurring chemical elements, or compounds of such elements formed as a product of inorganic processes. An element is one of a number of distinct varieties of matter which, singly or in a combination, compose every material substance. An element cannot be separated into substances different from itself by ordinary chemical processes. There are 103 recognized elements. There are about twenty elements that occur in their uncombined state in nature.
Minerals often occur in beautiful crystal forms.
Ores are minerals, or rocks containing minerals, of commercial value, found in quantities large enough to justify mining. These two collections contain a number of fine examples of B.C. minerals. Crystallized minerals such as galena, quartz, fluorite, garnet, calcite, sphalerite, kyanite and tourmaline are naturally appealing. Anyone interested can view a portion of this collection in the wall cases on the fourth floor of the Douglas Building on Government Street. The last two categories, research specimens and ores, will be of prime interest to scientists, researchers and educational institutions, and, through these, also to industry.