ABSTRACT
Asbestos is a commercial/industrial term rather than a mineralogical term that refers to a group of hydrated silicate minerals that occur naturally in brous bundles [1]. This unique brous morphology imparts properties such as high tensile strength and heat resistance that have made these minerals commercially valuable, especially in the twentieth century [2]. Six minerals are generally recognized as asbestos. Chrysotile, the only serpentine asbestos, is actually formed when a silicate layer is scrolled inside an opposing brucite (MgOH) layer. This is the most widely exploited type of asbestos, accounting for more than 90% of historical worldwide production (Figure 14.1). The other ve regulated asbestos types are amphiboles, with double-chain silicate layers sandwiching cations. Amosite, an iron-rich brous grunerite, was named for its mine source, Asbestos Mines of South Africa. Crocidolite, also predominantly from South Africa, is brous riebeckite. It is characterized by its iron and sodium content. Anthophyllite asbestos is anthophyllite’s (a Mg amphibole) brous form and was exploited most widely in Finland. Tremolite asbestos and actinolite asbestos are brous forms of tremolite and actinolite, which are the end members of a solid-solution series of calcic amphiboles.
