Slovenias Most Common Mineral---Zinc

Hey all! Today I am going to tell you all about Slovenia's most common mineral--- lead! That is the most common mineral in Slovenia besides gold. I am going to answer the following questions about the mineral in Slovenia, but I can not guarantee that I will answer all of them about the mineral, because some were not answered. Anyway the questions are-

-How is it mined?
-Who is the mining company?
-Where do the materials go-are they exported to other countries to factories?
-What are they used for?
-Is it valuable?
-Does your country depend on these minerals being mined?
-If so, why?

About the Mineral-
Zinc
Chemical Formula- Fn
Color- White to blue gray
Streak- Light gray
Transparency- Opaque
Luster- Metallic
Cleavage- Perfect in one direction
Hardness- 2
Density- 6.9 – 7.2
Crystal Shape- Hexagonal

How is it mined?
Zinc ore is mined using underground and surface mining or a combination of both. The Mežica Lead and Zinc Mine is famous for mining zinc. The mine is closed now. After the ore is mined, they do something called flash smelting where they heat up the ore until it makes zinc oxide (zinc + oxygen). The zinc ends up as powder.

What is Zinc used for?
Zinc is used in paints, for coating steel, automotive parts, electrical fuses, batteries, roof gutters, pennies, rubber, deodorant, and much more. Pennies are made of zinc covered with copper. Zinc is needed by animals and humans to stay healthy. Scientists are worried about the amount of zinc that is being used in industry because it ends up being dumped into bodies of water as waste. When this happens, fish that live in it, or people who end up drinking it, can be seriously hurt by it.

What are the mining company’s?
I did not find any companies online, but I did find some mines from Slovenia where they get Zinc.
-Breg is a settlement in the hills to the south of Mežica in the Carinthia region in northern Slovenia.
-Cave del Predil is a hamlet in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeast Italy. It is a frazione of the comune of Tarvisio in the Province of Udine, located 15 km south of Tarvisio, near the Italian-Austrian-Slovenian border. Until World War I, it was part of Austria-Hungary, and then came under Italian control. It is known for its former lead and zinc mine, which operated until 1991. A tunnel, originally used for water drainage and then for transport of miners and political refugees escaping from Communist Yugoslavia, connects it with Log pod Mangartom, Slovenia.
-Mežica is a town and a municipality in northern Slovenia. It lies on the Meža River in the traditional Slovenian province of Carinthia) near the Austrian border. The town developed close to a lead and zinc mine under Mount Peca. Mining began in 1665 and ended in 1994. Today the mine is only open for tourist visits.

Where do the materials go-are they exported to other countries to factories?
I didn't find a lot of information about this questions, but I did find the amount of money that we get with the exporting and how much money we recienve when we export.

In 1998:

GDP—real growth rate: 3.6%
Total Slovenia exports: €9.2 billion
Total Slovenia imports: €9.9 billion

Is it valuable?
No, zinc is not very valuable.

Does your country depend on these minerals being mined?
Slovenia exports lots of other minerals such as; aluminum, lead, gold, gypsum and many more but it exports lots of other things too so i wouldn't really say its going to become poor and starve to extinction. So it doesn't really urgently depend on it but zinc has some affect on it.

Conclusion-
When you think of the tiny country named Slovenia, which minerals do you think of?
I'm guessing probably not zinc ha! Well zinc is one of the most common minerals in Slovenia! It is not the only mineral there is many more, but it is one of the most commonly exported minerals although Slovenia mostly exports fruit, and other food such as salt. It surely does export minerals but they are a bit rare for us to export since we aren't so noticeable and we don't have such a big amount of it. I hope that you have learned something new about my home country Slovenia and it's minerals! Thank you, and I hope to see you soon in my next blog post! Please feel free to add a comment beneath this blog post for any improvement or suggestions! Thanks!