Azurite

      Easily cut and polished, azurite is a minor gemstone, but its main importance is an ore of copper. Its intense color and hardness are good field marks.

      Since earliest times, humans have always known how to mine this mineral. It is native; that is copper-like silver, gold, and a few other minerals-occurs in relatively pure and usable form in nature.

     Easily cut and polished, malachite is the source of popular gemstones. Concentric bands of lighter and darker colors are a pleasing feature in massive malachite. malachite is, also, used as an ore of copper.

      Also called peacock copper because of its varicolored appearance, bornite is named for Ignaz Von Born, a famous Austrian mineralogist.

     Frequently referred to as "fools gold" because of its yellowish color, this abundant mineral is named from the Greek word chalkos, "copper," and pyrites, "fiery."

      Named for Deodat de Dolomieiu, a French Mineralogist, dolomite is used to make magnesia, which is a component of antacids, refractory materials, and fertilizers.

                  Rutile

       This mineral often occurs in a more complex form, containing substantial amounts of iron. The name rutile derives from the Latin rutilus, "reddish."

       Often scheelite has a distinctive bluish-white fluorescence  that helps prospectors find the mineral. It is an important ore of tungsten, which is used in hardening steel and electrical products.

     A soft, plate like mineral, molybdenite is often mistaken for biotite, other mica like minerals, and graphite, which is actually a form of carbon.

     This one mineral is the source of several gemstones, including emeralds, and aquamarine. It is also the principal source of beryllium, an element used as a hardening agent in certain alloys.