1. APES: Mining What is it? Why do we do it?
What does it do to the Earth?
How can we be more sustainable?

2. Mineral Resources Naturally occurring in earth’s crust
Must be extracted, processed
Examples
Fossil fuels
Metallic minerals (aluminum, iron, copper)
Nonmetallic minerals (sand, gravel, limestone)
Nonrenewable!

3. Ores A rock that contains a mineral Must contain profitable amount
High grade = large amt of desired mineral
Low grade = smaller amount of desired mineral

4. How do we use minerals? Aluminum Steel (alloy containing iron) Sand
Packaging, cars, airplanes
Steel (alloy containing iron)
Buildings, vehicles)
Sand
Glass, bricks, concrete
Limestone
Cement, concrete, road rock

5. The life cycle of a metal resource
Key terms:
gangue: worthless material that surrounds ore
Smelting: using heat and chemicals to turn ore into useable mineral

6. Mining: the good and the bad
Advantages
Disadvantages
Income!
Revenues for cities, states and countries
employment
Uses lots of energy
Disturbs land
Erodes soil
Produces a lot of waste
Pollutes air, water, soil

7. Mining Methods Surface mining Subsurface mining
Removal of shallow deposits
Overburden removed
Rock/soil on top of deposit
Discarded as “spoils”
Used in 90% of nonfuel mineral/rock resources
Used in 60% of coal used in U.S.
Removal of deep deposits
Often used for coal and metal ores
Deep vertical shaft is dug
Tunnels must be blasted
Machinery used to reach deposits

8. Specific kinds of surface mining
Open-pit mining
Strip mining
Holes are dug
Ores are removed
Iron, copper, gold, sand, gravel, stone
Used for horizontal beds of minerals
Area strip mining: flat land
Contour strip mining: hills

9. Surface mining method: mountain-top removal
Mountain top removed
Exposes deposits
Prominent in Appalachian mountains

10. Harmful environmental effects of mining
Scarring/disruption of land
Spoils left behind, vegetation can’t grow well
Streams polluted with waste material
Flooding
Creates toxic waste during processing
Often stored in valleys
Can collapse and get into ecosystem
Forests removed
Subsidence, cave-ins, explosions, disease (subsurface)

11. Harmful effects, cont’d
Processing involves many chemicals (sulfuric acid, mercury, arsenic, cyanide)
Air pollution from processing
Highest industrial air polluter of toxic emissions!
Tailings left behind, pollute

12. How do we fix this? Clean up and restore mining sites
500,000 surface sites in U.S.
$70 billion to clean up
Subsurface disturbs <1/10 the land that surface mining disturbs
Produces less waste
But…causes cave ins, explosions, fires, diseases

13. How long will our supplies of minerals last?
Abundant deposits of iron, aluminum
Scarce deposits of chromium, manganese, cobalt, platinum
Deposits are not distributed equally around the world!
U.S., Canada, Russia, S. Africa, Australia supply most of modern world with nonrenewable minerals
Sharp rise in per capita use of minerals since 1950’s
U.S. depends on imports of 50% + of 24 most important nonrenewable mineral resources
Strategic resources: manganese, cobalt, chromium, platinum
Essential for economy and military
Most of these are imported!

14. Future supply depends on…
Actual/potential supply of mineral
Rate at which we use them
Never completely run out, they just become “economically depleted”!
Market prices
Increased prices mean increased supplies (encourages exploration)
Encourages more efficient use

15. Subsidies for mining Keep minerals prices low!
Given to help promote economic growth/national security
Your tax $ pay for these!
$6 billion +

16. 1872 U.S. General Mining Law
Designed to encourage mineral exploration on U.S. public lands and populate the West
Individuals could “claim” land
Must spend $500 to improve land
Could pay $6-12 for land owned by all U.S. citizens
Could build, sell, lease, use it for whatever
Frozen in 1995
Some land still being transferred at 1872 prices!
1992 modification: must post bonds to cover clean up cost in case of bankruptcy
Mining companies trying to weaken

17. SURFACE MINING CONTROL AND RECLAMATION ACT OF 1977
 establishes a program for regulating surface coal mining and reclamation activities
establishes mandatory uniform standards for these activities on state and federal lands, including a requirement that adverse impacts on fish, wildlife and related environmental values be minimized.
creates an Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund for use in reclaiming and restoring land and water resources adversely affected by coal mining practices.

18. Making mining more sustainable
Replace with substitutes!
“materials revolution”
Silicon, ceramics, plastics replace metals
Recycle and reuse metals
Recycling aluminum can produces 95% less air pollution, 97% less water pollution, and uses 95% less energy than mining and processing aluminum ore

19. Making mining more sustainable
Decrease use and waste of nonrenewable minerals