He set the rover's tracer equipment to close-scan for the proper mineral compounds.

The material comes from Yunnan Province and is made by sintering a proprietary and trade-secret mixture of mineral compounds.

Oxidation of a mineral compound causes it to swell and increase its oxidation number, leaving it more easily attacked by water or carbonic acid.

Oxygen is greedy for electrons, so this mineral compound is partially ionic: (Fe+3)2(O-2)3.

The organic molecules and certain mineral compounds, he noted, could have been of nonbiological origin.

Potash is a sandlike mineral compound used in making fertilizer, soap and glass.

The formulas are not released, she said, but they are neither animal nor vegetable dyes, but water-based mineral compounds.

Gypsum is one of the most common mineral compounds found on Earth but is rarely seen on the surface, as it dissolves easily in water.

This mineral compound is used as a pigment and cosmetic (see below).

Such an outer covering, the scientists added, "is consistent with biological material and excludes the presence of crystalline mineral compounds."