the.com/chromite
the only ore worth mining for chromium, hiding stainless steel inside dull black rock
means Chromite is a dark, metallic mineral made of iron, chromium, and oxygen — the principal ore from which chromium is extracted.
from Named in the early 19th century from "chrom-," the same root behind "chromium," which comes from the Greek "khrōma," meaning "color" — a nod to the vivid hues chromium compounds produce. The "-ite" ending is the standard mineralogist's suffix for rocks and minerals, also from Greek "-itēs," loosely "belonging to" or "of the nature of." So the name promises color, even though the ore itself looks stubbornly black.
- chrome source
- the sole commercial ore for all chromium metal
- stays put
- survives weathering, so it collects in placer deposits
- melts brutally
- endures over 2000 degrees Celsius without flinching
- war metal
- strategic stockpile material due to no substitutes
- south africa
- holds most of Earth's known chromite reserves
bushveld complex — south africa's massive layered igneous intrusion containing ~80% of world's chromite reserves
great dyke zimbabwe — zimbabwe's 550-km-long mafic intrusion with major chromite deposits mined since 1903
stillwater mine montana — united states' only primary palladium-chromite mine, operating in the stillwater complex since 1987