ABSTRACT
It is said that cement manufacture begins in the quarry (Figure 1.1), which is the commonly used term for opencast mining of minerals and rocks including limestone, the primary raw material for cement production. Since there is hardly any alternative to using limestone for making cement, it is treated as one among the most essential resources of a country. However, given its importance in the economy of any nation, our understanding of the genesis, occurrence, composition, properties, mining, and application of limestone is rather poor. This is because limestone has long been regarded as a “common” rock, and past geological studies were limited in scope, focused essentially on mapping deposits, analyzing rocks, and—occasionally—evaluating aquifers and petroleum reservoirs. However, a different set of data and a deeper understanding are needed to make more efficient use of limestone as a cement raw material. Further, there are certain other naturally occurring raw materials like limestone that are also used in cement manufacture, although in smaller quantities and only when required, and they include clay, bauxite, iron ore, sandstone, and so on. These materials are also obtained from opencast mining operations. Hence, a basic knowledge of geology and mining is important for cement chemists, technologists, and plant engineers. Keeping this in view, this chapter presents the fundamentals of geology, chemistry, and the mining of raw materials as relevant to cement production.
