Great mining: Vermiculite

Vermiculite can be new to our ear. What kind of a mineral is that? Vermiculite is a natural mineral that expands when exposed to heat. The expansion process is known as exfoliation and it’s frequently carried out in a great design for commercial furnaces. Vermiculite is formed by weathering or hydrothermal alteration of biotite or phlogopite. Large commercial vermiculite mines currently exist in Russia, South Africa, China and Brazil. Historically speaking, Vermiculite was first described in 1824 for an occurrence in Millbury, Worcester County, Masachussetts, USA. Its name is from Latin vermiculare, to breed worms in a manner that it exfoliates when heated.

Vermiculite occurs as an alteration product at the contact between felsic and mafic or ultramagnetic rocks such as pyxenites and dunites. It usually occurs as an alteration product between felsic and mafic or ultramatic rocks such as pyroxenites and dunites. Sometimes, it also occurs in magnesium rich limestone. Associated mineral phases include: corundum, apatite, serpentine, and talc.

The Discovery of Vermiculite

Vermiculite is a mineral ore that can possibly include asbestos as a harmful waste. In 1824, it was first found in Worchester, Massachusetts, however was not commercially mined until the year 1923. The ore is heated to exfoliate and to be formed into a substance after the process of mining and milling. Exfoliated mineral ore of Vermiculite is utilized mainly in supplies included in agricultural and horticulticural products. Other utilities of this ore are insulation, construction material, packaging materials, and others.

Rocks concealing or that contains the rich haul of vermiculite are dug from a huge open pit created in the ground. The mud on top of the rocks, normally termed as the overburden, is aloof with power shovels or the heavy machinery earth scrapers. The uncovered rock layers are later drilled with bulky drills that are powered either pneumatically or hydraulically, and the holes are crammed with the very volatile explosive charges. When every personnel and machineries have been relocated out of the blast or mining area, the volatile charges are then detonated in turn crumbling down the vermiculite rich rock bed. The resulting stacks of wobbly rocks are then later scooped up with power shovels and it is then dumped on to the trucks or train cars, which transports the ore rich rocks to a processing plant where the rocks are processed to separate the vermiculite ore from the rock.