In the earth’s crust, metals are present in the form of minerals and there are more than one mineral for a particular metal. However, metal may not be extracted from all of them. The mineral from which a metal can be profitably and conveniently extracted is known as ore. This clearly means that all ores are minerals but all minerals are not ores. For example, the different minerals of iron are:

Haematite: Fe₂O₃;

Siderite: FeCO₃;

Iron pyrites: FeS₂

Iron is extracted from haematite (Fe₂CO₃). Haematite mineral is the ore of iron while other minerals are not the ores.