Primary mineral

[1] In ore deposit geology, hypogene processes occur deep below the Earth's surface, and tend to form deposits of primary minerals, as opposed to supergene processes that occur at or near the surface, and tend to form secondary minerals.

Extrusive rocks (such as basalt, rhyolite, andesite and obsidian) and intrusive rocks (such as granite, granodiorite, gabbro and peridotite) contain primary minerals including quartz, feldspar, plagioclase, muscovite, biotite, amphibole, pyroxene and olivine in varying concentrations.

[7] The indicator minerals are further used to track dispersal trains in streams, which may determine the location of primary ores/minerals, and their source.

[8] The latter is further defined by Dr. Broome of North Carolina State:[9] the particle size of primary minerals is primarily larger than 2μm, which includes; silt, sand, and gravel.

[5] The earth's crust and soils are dominated by silicic acid in combination with Na, Al, K, Ca, Fe and O ions.

Tarr (1938) the primary mineral deposits are the result of direct magmatic action; he states that the splitting of magmas results in the basic igneous rocks and their accompanying group of accessory minerals formed by the first crystallization in the magma, on the one hand, and in the acidic igneous rocks and a second group of accessory minerals which were formed by deposition from the residual mother liquors.

[12] Primary ores are also extracted through dense media separation (DMS), which is a technique that involves the removal of gangue through the variation of specific gravity within particles.

[12] DMS plants have been widely used for different mining applications, such as the beneficiation of lithium bearing ores from pegmatites, like the main lithium-bearing mineral known as spodumene.

[13] Roasting of primary low grade ores, such as siderite and hematite occurs further forming magnetite.