[Rockhounds] Barium / Iron in iron miner

[Erich Kern]

Don H. is right about barium. You haven't lived until you've had a barium enema prior to a lower GI X-ray exam. I don't know if this technique is still used in medicine, as I had mine about 50 years ago.

Oxides of iron pass through the digestive tract with very little if any absorbed, since inorganic compounds must be water soluble to be absorbed. Carbonates (siderite and malachite come to mind) can be absorbed due to the hydrochloric acid in our stomach. How much is another topic. 

Erich Kern
Murrieta, CA

----- Original Message ----- 
From: DonH 
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors 
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 10:59 AM
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Iron in iron miner


Donald Tuttle wrote:

> 
> I may not be as dense as Rock Currier here, but there is not any iron in iron mines? Goodness sakes, has anybody told the iron miners that they are just mining rust? Yes, as a mineral collector I know my hematite  from a hemostat, my Barringer
>         Crater tetrataeite meteorite fragments from a plugged nickle, but the statement "...there is lost of hematite and other iron minerals in iron mines there is not iron" leaves me semantically puzzled. And about that subject line, how much iron is there in a iron miner, anyway? Inquiring minds, albeit very confused, want to know.
> 
> Donald L. Tuttle 


I think he means that there is not free iron as Fe.  Iron oxidizes very 
quickly and easily.  Pure native iron is reportedly rare; while it is 
the 4th most abundant element in the crust, it is nearly always found in 
compounds such as goethite, ferrihydrite, magnetite, hematite, siderite, 
and others.  The key here is that the compound is important to assessing 
biological availability.  For example, elemental barium is quite 
unhealthful, but barite is so insoluble that it is used as an imaging 
contrast medium in diagnosing digestive system problems.  Back to 
iron--I don't know the impact of ingesting elemental iron vs. ingesting 
various iron-bearing minerals, but if the acidity and 
oxidation/reduction potential of the human digestive system is known, 
then the solubility of iron oxides/hydroxides can be calculated.

This brings up an important point about terminology and semantics.  Rock 
was correct, though not explicit; the assumption was that the reader 
would know he meant "free elemental iron" when he said iron.  It is 
implied in the context but perhaps not clear if you don't sense where he 
is going with the statement.

Best,
Don





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