Minerals
Minerals like coal, iron, copper, steel etc. are used in all kinds of industries and in every-day life. The rate of consumption of minerals is increasing every year. Although the per capita consumption of some minerals like lime stone and iron ore is higher than some other minerals like bauxite, clay. gypsum, silica, sulphur, coal etc. Our per capita mineral consumption is very small compared to that of the developed counhies like USA, USSR or Japan. A major proportion of minerals produced in our country are exported to other countries as raw material to earn foreign exchange. However, quite a few minerals, like uranium, diamond, some kinds of steel, copper, non-ferrous alloys, crude oil etc. are imported in one form or another. An important issue in the utilisation of resources is how to handle waste, so as to extract the useful resources from it. Let us now consider the recycling of waste materials.