Containing or producing arsenic as a natural mineral component.
From Latin 'arsenicum' (arsenic) + '-ferous' (bearing or producing), combining the element name with a suffix meaning 'carrying' or 'yielding,' used in geology and mineralogy to describe rocks and ores.
This word is crucial in mining and geology because arseniferous minerals can be incredibly valuable—but also dangerous to extract, since arsenic is toxic; miners in the 1800s had to develop special protective techniques just to safely harvest certain ores.
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