Most minerals, such as halite and quartz, are made up of chemical compounds. A chemical compound is a substance in which the atoms of two or more elements bond together. The elements in a chemical compound are in a certain ratio.Solid water (ice) is probably one of the simplest compounds that you know.or example, the mineral hematite has two iron atoms for every three oxygen atoms, while the mineral magnetite has three iron atoms for every four oxygen atoms. Many minerals contain more complex chemical compounds that are made of several elements.