Industrial and metallic minerals provide essential materials for society by furnishing raw materials for agricultural, ceramic, chemical, construction, energy, metallurgical, and manufacturing industries. The Kentucky Geological Survey investigates the chemical composition, physical properties, geographic distribution, and geologic setting of industrial and metallic minerals in the State in order to provide information on potential resources for industry.
The information from KGS also can be used to evaluate resources for new markets and to determine new sources of raw materials. With advances in technology and industrial processes and products, new markets and needs for industrial and metallic minerals are developing, each with its own compositional and physical specifications. As an example of a changing market, the principal use for limestone and dolostone in the State traditionally has been in construction and agriculture, but Federal legislation to control sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-burning plants has resulted in new markets for carbonate rocks as sorbents in flue-gas desulfurization and fluidized-bed combustion systems.
In north-central Kentucky, recent expansion of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and the associated increase in commercial and residential construction has highlighted the region's demand for aggregate. A combination of a growing market for construction materials and decreasing availability of aggregate from local surface operations has emphasized the need for alternate sources of aggregate. Subsurface deposits of limestone and dolostone in the High Bridge Group (Ordovician), which KGS investigations have indicated are potential sources of crushed stone, are targets for exploratory drilling by companies seeking to locate sites in the region that are suitable for producing aggregate.
KGS is currently conducting research projects designed to provide information needed by the future users and producers of industrial and metallic minerals. These projects and some of their results are described in the following sections.