Industrial minerals are rocks and minerals that have commercial uses – provided, of course, that it is economic to extract them. Such commercially valuable minerals include gemstones, fuels, construction materials, salts and metals.
Whether it is economic to mine or quarry a particular rock or mineral depends partly on the value of the material to be extracted, the size and concentration of the deposit, its geographical location and economic conditions in the place concerned. So the riches of the mineral kingdom are not always there for the taking.