The chemistry of smartphones and other daily life items – the applied mineralogy exhibition at the Geological Survey of Norway

Abstract

The report describes the contents and purposes of the applied mineralogy exhibition at the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) in Trondheim. The exhibition comprises 446 objects currently exhibited in the common room of the Mineral Resources Division of the Geological Survey. The exhibition is structured according to economic commodity classes: metal ores and minerals, industrial minerals, and energy minerals. The metal ores and minerals are subdivided into precious metals (Au and Ag), base metals (Fe, Pb, Cu, Mn, Zn, Co, Ni), and rare metals (Sn, W, Sc, Li, Cs, and Be). The exhibited industrial minerals include quartz, feldspars, graphite, olivine, kyanite, micas, apatite, diamond, garnet, calcite, dolomite, kaolinite, montmorillonite, sulphur, and Ti minerals (Ti minerals, such as ilmenite and rutile, are considered as industrial minerals even Ti is a metal). The energy minerals include U-Th minerals. In addition, crude oil and heavy water are exhibited together with the energy minerals. The purposes of the exhibition are, firstly, to display representative samples mainly from Norwegian but also from some international metal and industrial mineral deposits and, secondly, to illustrate how minerals are processed and in which products they are used. To demonstrate the value chain from mineral mining to final products, mineral concentrates and mineral products are displayed for some commodities. The target groups are visitors of the Geological Survey of Norway, such as politicians, researchers, school classes and public visitors. In addition, the report provides chemical analysis of daily-life items, such as smartphones, compact cameras, toothpaste, deodorants and eye shadows to illustrate their complex chemistry and the diversity of minerals required for their production. The discussed examples of daily life items and the establishment of the applied mineralogy collection at NGU aim to raise awareness about the complexity of sourcing mineral raw materials and the need of mining.