Mineral Resources Potential - Geothermal Resources

I 14 Mineral Resources Potential of Ethiooia
sulfides directly onto the sea floor. This is then buried by further
sediments. Often copper is associated with gold, lead, zinc and
nickel deposits.
Applications
Copper is used extensively in products such as: Electronics
-copper wire, electromagnets, electrical machines, especially
electromagnetic motors and generators, electrical relays, electrical
busbars and electrical switches, vacuum tubes, cathode ray tubes,
and the magnetrons in microwave ovens, wave guides for
microwave radiation. Household Products +opper plumbing,
doorknobs and other fixtures in houses, roofing, guttering, and
rainspouts on buildings; in cooking-wares, such as fiying pans;
most flatwares (knives, forks, sp~ons) contain some copper (nickel
silver); sterling silver, if it is to be used in dinnerware, must
contain a few % copper; copper was sometimes used by the Inuit to
make the cutting blade for ulus; coinage -as a component of coins,
often as cupronickel alloy, Euro coins contain different copper
alloys; biomedical applications: as a biostatic surface in hospitals,
and to line parts of ships to protect against barnacles and mussels;
chemical applications: compounds, such as Fehling's solution, have
applications in chemistry, as a component in ceramic glazes, and to
colour glass; others: musical instruments, especially brass
instruments and cymbals (Guil bert and Parks, 1 986).
Lead
Occurrence
Native lead does occur in nature, but it is rare. Currently lead is
usually found in ore with zinc, silver and (most abundantly)
copper, and is extracted together with these metals. The main lead
mineral is galena (PbS), which contains 86.6% lead. Other
common varieties are cerussite (PbC03) and anglesite (PbS04).