With the exception of metal‑bearing sands from which metals are commercially extractable (Chapter 26), this heading covers all natural sea, lake, river or quarry sand (i.e., sand in the form of more or less fine particles resulting from the natural disintegration of minerals), but excludes sands and powders obtained artificially, for example, by crushing (classified in heading 25.17 or in the heading for the rock concerned).
The heading covers, inter alia :(1) Silica sands and quartz sands, used in building, in the glass industry, for cleaning metals, etc. (2) Clayey sands including kaolinic sands, used mainly for preparing foundry moulds and refractory products. (3) Feldspathic sands, used in the ceramic industry. Natural sands remain in this heading when they have been heat treated merely to remove impurities. On the other hand, this heading does not include gold‑bearing or platinum‑bearing sands, zircon sands, rutile sands and ilmenite sands, nor monazite sands (monazites) which are classified as thorium ores; all these fall in Chapter 26. Nor does the heading cover tar sands or "asphaltic sands" (heading 27.14).
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