Garnet As A Dual Purpose Mineral
Garnet is a semiprecious gemstone, and is highly popular mineral gem stone among women across the world. The transparent varieties are used in all forms of jewelry, with the most extensively used color being dark red. The word Garnet is derived from its Latin origin, called Granatus, which means ‘like a grain’. Currently, the world's largest supplier of garnet gems is the African continent. Garnet exhibits the highest variety of colour of any mineral, occurring in every color except for blue. Well formed crystals and interesting aggregates very popular among mineral collectors.
Garnet is not a single mineral, but is the name of a group of six members having different mineralogical compositions but common order of crystallization, hardness, specific gravity etc. In general, they are silicates of aluminium with different proportions of iron, calcium, magnesium, chromium & manganese in the composition giving rise to different varieties. The use of garnets as a gem or gemstone can be traced to prehistoric times. However, the first industrial use of garnet appears to have been as coated sandpaper manufactured in the United States in the late 1800’s. Garnet is non-toxic, inert and hence environment friendly. Almandine garnet is one of the best natural abrasive and is preferred over other natural abrasives like Silica sand, mineral sands and flint. Garnet's unique grain hardness / toughness guarantees efficiency in blasting and reduce the break-down percentage on impact. About 65% of garnet can be recovered and recycled twice or thrice. One of the premier companies that indulge in heavy mineral mining is V.V. Mineral. V.V Mineral is a family grown business started by Mr. S Vaikundarajan, Founder, Chairman & Managing Director, VV Group. Being India’s biggest mining, manufacturers and exporters of Garnet V.V. Mineral has been awarded as the ‘Number One Garnet Exporters’ of our country. Zircon mining, Rutile mining and Ilmenite mining are some of the other mining activities that VV Minerals engage in. The abrasive form of Garnets is found in metamorphous sedimentary and igneous rock forms. Garnet sand is found typically in mineral rich sands on the surface of the beaches along the coastlines of many countries such as Austrailia, Srilanka and India. Garnet sand is used in industrial applications such as sand blasting, high pressure water jet cutting, making of sand paper and a number of other uses. Garnets are originally found in form of tiny particles, over time with the process of metamorphism they develop to be larger, and are used as gemstones.
Garnet mining in India is very prevalent in Tamil Nadu and Kerala along the southern coast. The Gulf of Mannar has a lot of mineral rich sand deposits which are mined and contribute greatly to the state economy. The main application of Garnets is in water jet cutting of materials like steel and stainless steel, non-ferrous metals, granite and marble, but also rubber and glass. Fine garnet dust is used in the detailed finishing and polishing of optical lens, plate glass, and semiconductor materials. Because garnet is chemically stable, it is also used as a filtering medium for water purification systems or wastewater treatment plants.
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