Introduction to Practical Ore Microscopy

Book excerpt: First published in 1989. This book is designed to be an introduction to Ore microscopy, which is the traditional name for the study of opaque minerals using a polarising ‘incident light’ microscope. It is also known as reflected light microscopy. It has applications in the fields of mineralogy, economic geology, mineral dressing, metallurgy and in the study of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks which contain opaque minerals. Although mineral identification is an important aspect of the study of the opaque ores, an examination of the textures and structures is also valuable.