What is industrial mineral microscopy? It is the application of any micro-analytical technique used to characterize and identify non-metallic and non-fuel earth materials. Humans have used industrial minerals since ancient times. The earliest known scientific work which dealt expressly with minerals and artificial products derived from them is Theophrastus On Stones. Theophrastus, a pupil and friend of Aristotle, described the use of fuller's earth and gypsum for whitening discolored cloth garments in the latter half of the 4th century, B.C. Fuller's earth is still used today as a decolorizing agent by manufacturers of oil and fat products. Gypsum, of course, is widely used in plaster of paris, cement, and paper.

Today, industrial minerals are encountered often by people in everyday life. Electronic, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, construction, paper, and plastics industries use industrial minerals in a multitude of products.