TALC

Characteristics:Talc is usually
green, white, gray, brown, or
colorless. It is a translucent mineral
with a pearly luster. ... This
characteristic is responsible for talc's
extreme softness, its greasy, soapy
feel, and its value as a high-
temperature lubricant.

Significance:Uses of Talc: Talc is used as a filler, coating,

pigment, dusting agent and extender in plastics, ceramics,
paint, paper, cosmetics, roofing, rubber and many other
products.

Gypsum
Characteristics and
Significance:Gypsum uses
include: manufacture of
wallboard, cement, plaster of Paris, soil conditioning, a
hardening retarder in portland cement. Varieties of
gypsum known as "satin spar" and "alabaster" are used
 for a variety of ornamental
purposes; however, their low
hardness limits their durability.

Calcite
Characteristics and Significance:Calcite is the principal
constituent of limestone and marble. ... The properties of
calcite make it one of the most widely used minerals. It is used
as a construction material, abrasive, agricultural soil treatment,
construction aggregate, pigment,
pharmaceutical and more. It has
more uses than almost any other
mineral.

Fluorine
Characteristics and Significance:Fluorine is an
univalent poisonous gaseous halogen, it is pale
yellow-green and it is the most chemically reactive
and electronegative of all the elements. ... It is so
 reactive that glass,
metals, and even
water, as well as
other substances,
burn with a bright
flame in a jet of
fluorine gas.

Apatite

Characteristics and Significance:Apatite

is best known foir its use as an index
mineral with a hardness of 5 in the Mohs
Hardness Scale. It is usually green in
color, but can be yellow, brown, blue,
purple, pink, or colorless. These colors
are often so vivid that apatite has
frequently been cut as a gemstone.
Apatite is a brittle material.