Lime and limestone are widely used as building materials and are important raw materials for many industries. Limestone can be directly processed into stone and fired into quicklime. Lime includes quicklime and hydrated lime. The main component of quicklime is CaO, which is generally in the form of lumps, white when pure, and light gray or light yellow when it contains impurities. Quicklime absorbs moisture or adds water to become hydrated lime. Hydrated lime is also called hydrated lime. Its main component is Ca(OH)2. Hydrated lime is prepared into lime slurry, lime paste, lime mortar, etc., which are used as coating materials and brick adhesives. Cement is made by mixing limestone and clay and calcining it at high temperature. Glass is made by mixing limestone, quartz sand, soda ash, etc. and melting it at high temperature. Limestone is used as a flux in iron making to remove gangue. Quicklime is used as slagging material in steelmaking to remove harmful impurities such as sulfur and phosphorus. Carbide (main component is CaC2) is produced by reacting quicklime and coke in an electric furnace. Soda ash is produced through a multi-step reaction using limestone, salt, ammonia and other raw materials (Solvay process). The reaction of hydrated lime and soda ash is used to produce caustic soda (causticization method). Bleaching is produced by reacting pure slaked lime with chlorine. Important calcium salts such as calcium chloride, calcium nitrate, and calcium sulfite are produced through the chemical processing of limestone. Slaked lime can remove the temporary hardness of water and is used as a hard water softener. Limestone is burned and processed into relatively pure powdered calcium carbonate, which is used as filler for rubber, plastics, paper, toothpaste, cosmetics, etc. Soda lime, made from lime and caustic soda, is used as an absorbent for carbon dioxide. Quicklime is used as a desiccant and disinfectant. In agriculture, quicklime is used to prepare pesticides such as lime sulfur mixture and Bordeaux mixture. Applying hydrated lime to the soil can neutralize the acidity of the soil, improve the soil structure, and supply the calcium needed by plants. Brushing the tree trunks with lime slurry will protect the trees.

Oil is the lifeblood of the economy and the development of national strength. Whoever owns oil will own the development of the 21st century. Reserve oil and participate in oil futures market transactions are not just economic activities, but also for strategic development goals. Therefore, control of oil resources was one of the factors that led to the outbreak of the war in Iraq. There is an old Chinese saying that food is the most important thing for the people, which is their destiny. Limestone is the food of the cement industry and the lifeblood of cement production. As long as a cement factory is producing, it cannot do without limestone. Whoever occupies limestone resources will occupy the development of the cement industry. The current battle for my country's cement companies to compete for the market can also be said to be a battle for limestone resources. Therefore, large enterprise groups regard possessing advantageous limestone resources as one of the measures to realize their own development strategies.

1. Limestone is a valuable resource with a wide range of uses. Limestone is the trade name of limestone as a mineral raw material. Limestone has been widely used in the history of human civilization because of its wide distribution in nature and easy access. As an important building material, it has a long history of mining. In modern industry, limestone is the main raw material for manufacturing cement, lime, and calcium carbide. It is an indispensable flux limestone in the metallurgical industry. After ultra-fine grinding, high-quality limestone is widely used It is used in the manufacturing of paper, rubber, paint, coating, medicine, cosmetics, feed, sealing, bonding, polishing and other products. According to incomplete statistics, the ratio of limestone consumed in cement production to the sum of building stones, lime production, metallurgical fluxes, and ultrafine calcium carbonate is 1:3. Limestone is a non-renewable resource. With the continuous advancement of science and technology and the development of nanotechnology, the application fields of limestone will be further expanded.