What are the factors to be considered while selecting minerals for the extraction of metals?

1. Abundance

2. Easily separable

3. High metal content

Minerals contain both metal and waste called gangue. For the extraction to be economical, the mineral must contain abundant amount of metal. Moreover, the separation of metal from gangue should be easy and mineral should be available in large amounts for economic extraction.

For ex- iron is found in siderate, but in very less quantity. So, its not economical for extraction. Haematite and magnetite are the two principal mineral ores of iron which contain high amounts of iron and can be extracted profitably.