Major Mineral Groups

Silicates
• Silicate minerals contain silicon (Si)
& oxygen (O), the two most abundant
elements in the earth’s crust.
• Over 90% of the common rock-
forming minerals are silicates.
Oxides
• Oxide minerals are made up of
oxygen and one or more metals.
• Common oxide minerals
include: hematite and limonite
Sulfates
• Sulfate minerals contain sulfur and
oxygen (SO4) combined with other
elements.
• Common sulfate minerals include:
gypsum and barite.
Sulfides
• Sulfide minerals contain sulfur and
a metal.
• Common sulfide minerals include:
galena and pyrite
Carbonates
• Carbonate minerals contain
carbonate a combination of carbon
and oxygen (CO3), , combined with
other elements.
• Common carbonate minerals
include: calcite and dolomite.
Native Elements
• Native elements are minerals that
form as individual elements.  Gold
and copper are examples of metallic
native elements.
• Diamond is a type of non-metallic
native element.
Halides
• Halides include such elements as
chlorine and fluorine.  Common
halide minerals include halite and
fluorite. 
1. Silicates – minerals containing 2 of
the most abundant elements in the
Earth’s crust, namely, silicon and
oxygen. When linked together, these
two elements form the silicon oxygen
tetrahedron - the fundamental
building block of silicate minerals.
Over 90% of the rock-forming
minerals belong to this group. Aside
from Si (46.6 %) and O (27.7%), the
other most common elements that
make the earth’s crust are Al (8.1), Fe
(5.0), Ca (3.6), Mg (3.1), Na (2.8) and
K 2.6).
2. Oxides – minerals containing
Oxygen anion (O ) combined with
2-

one or more metal ions

3. Sulfates – minerals containing
Sulfur and Oxygen anion- combined
with other ions
4. Sulfides – minerals containing
sulfur anion (S ) combined with one
2-

or more ions. Some sulfides are

sources of economically important
metals such as copper, lead and zinc.
5. Carbonates – minerals containing
the (carbon & oxygen) anion (CO3) 2-

combined with other elements

6. Native Elements – minerals that
form as individual elements
a. Metals and Inter-metals – minerals
with high thermal and electrical
conductivity, typically with metallic
luster, low hardness (gold, lead)
b. Semi-metals – minerals that are
more fragile than metals and have
lower conductivity (arsenic, bismuth)
c. Nonmetals – nonconductive (sulfur,
diamond)
7. Halides – minerals containing
halogen elements combined with one
or more elements