1. Minerals & Mining
Chapter 15

2. General Mining Law (1872) 1872 – do you think it was good or bad??
Encouraged settlement of western states
Anyone can stake a mining claim on federal lands, buy for $ $5 per acre, extract the resources, & keep all profits.
No provisions for environmental protection

3. …General Mining Law (1872) More than 50 of the 100,000 to 500,000
abandoned mines in the US
are Superfund sites!
Cleanup of all Superfund mining sites
will cost an estimated $12.5-$17.5 billion.
2000: Congress enacted new mining regulations to protect taxpayers and the environment from the worst abuses of the General Mining Law.
President G.W.Bush: weakened the new rules in response to pressure from the mining industry.
The issue: are the jobs produced by mining worth the environmental damage?

4. Minerals
Elements or compounds of elements that occur naturally in Earth’s crust.
Ex: steel (mixture), aluminum, copper, concrete (mixture), sulfur, salt, quartz, gold, … you get it.
Changed the course of history…
Britain = explored for tin.
Bronze Age = ruled by the alloy of copper & tin.
New World = explored for gold & silver.
California = gold rush (1840s)
Rain forests destruction = gold

5. …Minerals Mineral Groups: Can be:
NATURALLY OCCURRING
INORGANIC
SPECIFIC CHEM. COMP.
SOLID
DEF. CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
Mineral Groups:
Sulfides (S + another element)
Oxides (O + metals)
Halides (F, Cl, Br, I)
Silicates (Si + O)
Carbonates (C + O)
Native Elements (any pure element)
Can be:
Metallic
Nonmetallic
Rocks = combo of minerals + other stuff
Ore = rock that contains a large enough concentration of a mineral that makes it profitable to mine for.
High-grade ore: large amounts of minerals
Low-grade ore: low amounts of minerals.

6. Distribution & Formation
Widely distributed worldwide (see next slide)
Some countries have a lot, some have a little.
===============================================
Magmatic Concentration
Magma cools & separates into layers
Heavy (Fe, Mg) on bottom, Light (SiO2) on top
Hydrothermal Processes
Hot groundwater dissolves minerals & react with S, making sulfides
Sulfides aren’t soluble, so they settle out.
Sedimentation
Water transports weathered particles and deposits them as sediment
Evaporation
Salts & minerals are left behind when water evaporates.

8. Resources Review RENEWABLE? REPLENISHABLE? NONRENEWABLE?
How do these relate to NATURAL CAPITAL & NATURAL INCOME?
ARE MINERALS SUSTAINABLE?

9. MAKE THEM INTO A PRODUCT!
How is mining done?
STEP 1:
DISCOVER THEM!
STEP 2:
EXTRACT THEM!
STEP 3:
PROCESS & REFINE THEM!
STEP 4:
MAKE THEM INTO A PRODUCT!

10. Step 1: DISCOVERY Aerial or Satellite photography
Measure Earth’s magnetic field & gravity
Geological knowledge of how minerals form
Drill for samples & analyze composition
Sea floor?? Detailed 3D maps!

11. Step 2: EXTRACTION 2 ways: Surface & Subsurface Mining!
Surface Mining (less $$, less danger)
Overburden must be removed
4 Kinds:
Open-pit mining = dig a big hole to make a quarry.
Strip Mining = dig parallel trenches and create a spoil bank (dump new trench’s overburden in old trench)
Mountaintop Removal = BAD!!! “Strip Mining on Steroids”
Dredging = chain buckets & draglines scrape underwater minerals
Subsurface Mining (more $$, more danger)

12. Open-Pit Mine: Bingham Canyon, UT Largest man-made hole in the world
2.5 miles wide, 0.5 miles deep
Material removed = 7X amount moved to create the Panama Canal

13. Strip Mine: SPOIL BANK TRENCH
SPOIL BANK
TRENCH

14. STRIP MINING (spoil bank & trench)

15. STRIP MINING (spoil bank & trench)

17. Mountaintop Removal (MTR)

18. “Strip Mining on Steroids”
Widespread in WV, KY, TN, VA, PA
Boston.com, 3/16/08:
“Short of a nationwide shift away from coal and toward renewable sources, the Appalachia activists would like to see Congress pass the Clean Water Protection Act. This bill would reverse one of the Bush administration's most damaging concessions to industry on the environmental front. The Environmental Protection Agency decided in 2002 that mountaintop-removal miners' practice of dumping their waste into stream beds did not violate the Clean Water Act of The EPA decided the material was "fill," not waste.”

19. Step 2: EXTRACTION Subsurface Mining (more $$, more danger)
Surface Mining (less $$, less danger)
Subsurface Mining (more $$, more danger)
Less damage to the environment surface)
Can cause subsidence & even miners’ deaths.
4 Kinds:
Shaft Mine = direct vertical shaft, hauled out in buckets.
Slope Mine = slanting passage, hauled out in cars.
Room-and-pillar = some coal left in place as pillars to prevent collapse.
Longwall = narrow tunnel supported by movable metal roof supports. Allowed to collapse after mining is completed.

20. Shaft (think of your first idea of a mine), Slope (Reed Gold Mine), Room&Pillar (see in drift/slope/shaft), Longwall (in the drift mine, see next slide)

21. Shaft Mine Remember the Goonies
Shaft Mine Remember the Goonies? Most of that movie was filmed in a mine.

22. Slope Mine

23. ROOM AND PILLAR (viewed from above)

24. LONGWALL

25. Subsurface Mining
What effects could occur because of subsurface mining???? Think back to what we’ve learned so far this year….
Subsidence
Sinkholes
Pollution at the surface
Human injury (falls, miners, etc)
Any others?

26. Step 3: PROCESSING Smelting
Melting ore at high temperatures to help separate impurities from the molten metal.
Uses a Blast Furnace
Ore, coke, and limestone react with heat to create:
Purified molten iron (denser)
Iron Ore + Coke = molten iron + carbon dioxide
Impurities (“Slag”) (less dense)
Limestone + Impurities = slag
Exhaust gases are dangerous!

27. … that means… Create a Product!! Duh!
Step 4: CREATE PRODUCT
… that means…
Create a Product!!
Duh!

28. Environmental Implications p.336-340
Get in groups of 6.
Choose a partner within your group.
Each pair summarizes one of the following:
1 – Mining & the Environment (& c-b analysis)
2 – Environmental Impacts of Refining Minerals
3 – Restoration of Mining Lands (& creative approaches)
Vocab is key!!! …8min total!
Teach your Home Group! …3min each!

29. Increasing our Mineral Supplies p.340-344
Locating & Mining New Deposits
Minerals in Antarctica
Minerals from the Ocean
Advanced Mining Techniques

30. Increasing our Supplies… Locating and Mining New Deposits
Sometimes we know there are resources out there… but they’re inaccessible.
Malaria in Indonesia, Ice in Antarctica, High sedimentation in Amazon Basin
Create new technologies
Dig 10km below surface, go through ice sheets, etc.
Possible to find new resources?? USGS: sure!

31. Increasing our Supplies… Minerals in Antarctica
To date, no substantial mineral deposits have been found in Antarctica.
But we might find some!
FYI – nobody owns Antarctica… so the rules can get sticky when people want to exploit resources.
ANTARCTIC TREATY – 1961
Limits activity in Antarctica to peaceful uses such as scientific studies.
Environmental Protection Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty (Madrid Protocol) – 1990
Moratorium on mineral exploration and development for >50yrs
People are already ruining Antarctica’s fragile ecosystem… science, tourism, noise, pollution…

32. Increasing our Supplies… Minerals from the Ocean
What’s there?
Minerals from the seawater (evaporation) – NaCl, Br
Manganese Nodules! (p.344 in book) – Pacific has lots!
How do we get them?
Dredging mostly. $$$$$$$$$
Problems?
BAAAAD for the marine life.
Who has the rights? It’s in international waters!
Controversy:
Some: it’s inevitable… Let’s mine it.
Others: so much ecological damage… Let’s declare it off-limits.

33. Increasing our Supplies… Advanced Mining Technologies
Use more low-grade mineral deposits.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Causes greater land disruption
Produces far more pollution than high-grade ores
In arid regions, lots of water needs to be pumped in to help with the mining process.
Biomining
Microorganisms can extract minerals from low-grade ores
Copper mining uses it.
They help!!
90% recovery of gold with them
75% recovery without them.

34. Expanding our Supplies by Substitution and Conservation
Finding Mineral Substitutes
Use inexpensive, abundant materials instead!
Old=Tin. New=plastic, glass, aluminum.
Old=Copper wires. New=fiber optics (glass).
Mineral Conservation – important!! (they’re nonrenewable!)
Reuse & Recycle
Changing our Mineral Requirements
Become a low-waste society!
Sustainable manufacturing (minimize waste in industry)
Dematerialization
Decrease weight of products.

35. “Throwaway” Mentality

36. Sustainable Manufacturing
Traditional Flow of Minerals
Low-Waste Society Flow of Minerals
Sustainable Manufacturing

37. RELEVANT LEGISLATION General Mining Law (1872)
Allowed people to “stake claims” & make profit
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (1977)
Required reclamation of previously mined areas
Only from coal mining!!
Antarctic Treaty (1961)
Limits activity in Antarctica to peaceful uses such as scientific studies
Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (1980s)
Never ratified – would have permitted exploitation of Ant. minerals
Environmental Protection Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty (Madrid Protocol) (1990)
Moratorium on mineral exploration & development for >50 years
Designated Antarctica & its marine ecosystem as a “natural reserve dedicated to peace and society”