Chromite

This is a short overview — for the full history, value over time and notable mines, see Chromite →

An iron-chromium oxide, the only commercially important ore of chromium. Extracted by simple opencast quarrying rather than deep mining, it was crushed and ground on site before dispatch, and was used first as a pigment and later, once demand for stainless and alloy steel grew, as the chief source of metallic chromium.