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A raw material is a relatively unprocessed material that is a basic economic input. These include minerals, metals, forest products, agricultural products, chemicals and natural resources that are viewed as foundational inputs. All products, buildings and hard infrastructure are ultimately made from raw materials. Likewise, services, utilities and processes often depend on raw materials such that they underpin most economic activity. The following are examples of major raw materials.
Abrasives | Almonds | Aluminium | Bamboo | Bauxite | Beans | Butter | Cement | Chromium | Clay | Cobalt | Cocoa | Coffee | Commodity Chemicals | Construction Aggregate (sand, gravel, crushed stone etc..) | Copper | Corn | Cotton | Diamond | Diatomite | Dyes | Feldspar | Fish | Fruit Juices | Fruits | Gemstones | Glass / Silica | Gold | Graphite | Gravel | Gypsum | Honey | Iron | Lime | Limestone | Lithium | Lumber | Magnesium | Manganese | Marble | Meet | Metal Alloys | Milk | Millet | Molasses | Molybdenum | Natural Gas | Natural Rubber (latex) | Nickel | Nitrogen | Nuts | Oats | Palladium | Peanuts | Peat | Petroleum | Phosphate Rock | Pigments | Plastics | Platinum | Potash | Quartz Crystal | Rare Earths | Rice | Rocks | Salt | Sand | Silicon | Silk | Silver | Soda Ash | Sorghum | Soybeans | Spices | Stainless Steel | Steel | Stone | Sugar | Sulfur | Synthetic Fibers | Synthetic Rubber | Talc | Tea | Tin | Titanium | Vegetable Juices | Vegetable Oils | Vegetables | Water | Wheat | Wool | Zinc |
In some cases, raw materials are processed and/or manufactured. For example, petrochemicals are used to make plastic but from the perspective of most industries, plastic is a raw material.Rare earths are 17 nearly-indistinguishable soft heavy metals that are difficult to mine because they are seldom found in large deposits. They are considered rare for this reason but are more abundant than copper in the Earth's crust.
Raw materials are extracted at great scale and can have significant environmental and social impact. As such, responsible selection/sourcing of raw materials is a basic sustainability practice.
Materials
This is the complete list of articles we have written about materials.
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A list of common types of materials.
Everything you ever wanted to know about diamonds but were afraid to ask.
The common types of steel explained.
An overview of lapis lazuli with examples.
A list of metallic elements, base metals, precious metals and rare-earth metals.
An a-z list of natural materials.
An a-z list of physical properties with basic explanations of each.
An overview of the common types of engineering.
An overview of construction with a list of examples.
An overview of the common types of wood with photos.
A complete overview of bamboo wood.
A list of common construction materials.
A list of things made with wood.
An overview of materials quality with examples.
A list of common building materials.
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