Rocks around us

Without mineral products, life as we know it could not exist. The products from mineral extraction give us our homes, shops, offices, hospitals - and, yes, they also give us our schools! A typical family creates a need for about a lorry load of stone every year.

Let's look first at your house. Modern houses are built almost entirely from materials made from rocks.

For example:

• The bricks and roof tiles are made from clay
• The mortar that bonds the bricks is made from sand, lime and cement
• The foundations and blocks are made of concrete, a mixture of cement, aggregates and water
• The plaster is made from gypsum
• The glass in the windows is made using sand