Metallic Minerals
Metallic minerals are minerals that when refined from the group of materials we know as metals. Some of these metals are mined for their beauty and rareness. These are known as precious metals.
They include: gold, silver, bronze, platinum and so on. Secondly, metals are mined for their strength such as iron. Finally, other metals are mined for their unique properties. Copper, for example, is mined for its unique quality of being an excellent conductor or electricity
Non-metallic Minerals
Non-metallic minerals are a more difficult type of mineral to define.
These are minerals that are not metallic but possess other useful qualities. Often non-metallic minerals are also referred to as industrial minerals. This group of minerals includes gravel, potash, soapstone, salt, asbestos and diamonds. Each of these minerals has a unique quality that makes them useful.
Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuels are made up of oil, natural gas and coal. These nonrenewable resources are burned to produce energy. Oil and natural gas play a very important role in meeting Canada’s energy needs.
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Crude oil is formed from organic material of the remains of plant and animal organisms that lived millions of years ago.
These remains form sediments e.g. at the bottom of seas, and become buried under layers of sedimentary rock. They decay,
without air (oxygen), under the action of heat and
pressure to form crude oil over millions of years. o
The vast majority of compounds found in crude oil are
hydrocarbons, that is compounds/molecules made up of carbon atoms combined with hydrogen atoms.
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It is a fossil fuel because it is formed from once living organisms and the Sun is the original source of energy. It is a

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non-renewable and finite (limited reserves) energy resource because it takes millions of years to form and we burn it faster than it is formed! It is also known as a finite energy
resource because it will eventually run out! We do not have unlimited oil reserves!
Coal, peat and natural gas are the other principal non-
renewable fossil fuels formed from the remains of plants or animals.
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Coal, formed millions of years from the remains of tropical plant material, mainly consists of carbon,
Burning coal produces a lot of pollution as the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. The pollutants include soot particles (black deposits of carbon), sulphur dioxide
(lung irritant and acid rain gas) and poly-aromatic hydrocarbons which are carcinogenic.