Mining

Mining in the United States generates over $60 billion towards our country’s economy every year.

© Copyright 2007  M. J. Krech. All rights reserved.

Main Ideas

• Compare the two types of mining.

• Describe different uses for metallic & nonmetallic minerals.

Mining

• Mining – the process of removing valuable minerals from the Earth.

• Ore – a natural mineral deposit that is large enough and pure enough to be mined for profit.

Types of Mining

• Surface Mining – mining that is used when minerals are at or near the surface of Earth.

Surface mines include open pits & quarries(dug into cliffs).

Types of Mining

• Subsurface Mining – mining that is used when mineral deposits are located deep within the Earth’s surface.

Passageways, tunnels, & shafts are dug into the Earth to reach the ore.

Mining Reclamation

• Reclamation – the process of returning land used for mining back to its original form.

Mining destroys the habitat of plants & animals. Reclamation reduces the impact of mining on the environment.

Metallic Minerals

• Metallic Minerals – minerals that have shiny surfaces, DO NOT let light pass through them, and are good conductors of heat & electricity.

Gold, Silver, & Copper are all examples.

Nonmetallic Minerals

• Nonmetallic Minerals – minerals that may be shiny or dull, will let light pass through, and are good insulators of heat & electricity.

Calcite, Quartz, & Silica are examples.

Gemstones

• Gemstones – nonmetallic minerals that are highly valuable for their beauty & rarity.

• Color is the most important quality of a gemstone.

Examples include: diamond, ruby, sapphire, & emerald.

Exploration Drilling

Exploration is an important way of meeting the U.S. demand for tons of minerals each year. A typical exploration site is no bigger than a quarter-acre.

Core Samples

Core samples taken hundreds of feet underground are no more that two inches in diameter.

QUESTION #1: What part of the cookie mining activity

simulated EXPLORATION?

QUESTION #1:

ANSWER:

Thinking about which cookie held the most chips (and nuts) and looking at the cookies before you bought them simulated EXPLORATION in this activity.

Once EXPLORATION has located a good site, the mining company must buy or lease the land. Most companies lease the mineral rights on the land, rather than buy the land.

QUESTION #2: What part of the cookie mining activity simulated LAND LEASE OR PURCHASE?

QUESTION #2:

ANSWER:Paying “money” for the cookie of your choice simulated LAND LEASE OR PURCHASE.

Next, the mining company must PURCHASE EQUIPMENT for removing mineral ores from the ground.

Front-End Loader

Heavy equipment like this front-end loader is disassembled, lowered into the mine and reassembled for use 1,000 feet below the surface.

Diamond Drill

Heavy equipment such as a Diamond Drill is used hundreds of feet underground to explore for ore deposits.

QUESTION #3: What part of the cookie mining activity simulated EQUIPMENT PURCHASE?

QUESTION #3:

ANSWER:Paying “money” for toothpicks and/or paperclips simulated EQUIPMENT PURCHASE.

OPERATING EXPENSES While the Mining

Company is mining, before they sell the ores for a profit, they need to have enough money to cover expenses, such as salaries, fuel for equipment, electricity, etc.

QUESTION #4: What part of the cookie mining activity simulated OPERATING EXPENSES?

QUESTION #4:

ANSWER:When you paid $1.00 per minute to mine your cookie, you were simulating OPERATING EXPENSES.

Three Types of Mining

1. Strip or Surface Mining - which dig deep, open pits into the ground

2. Underground Mining - which dig shafts underground

3. Quarries - which dig into cliffs

Which one is this?

Open Pit (Strip) Mining

Currently, in the United States there are more than 25,000 strip (open-pit) mining operations.

Open-Pit (Strip) Mining of lead at Joachim Creek

near Herculaneum, Missouri

Strip Mining

Bituminous coal is mined almost entirely by strip mining coal  seams that lie close to the surface.

Lead Mining

Lead mining in Missouri takes place 1,000 feet underground in an area known as the Viburnum Trend.

Typical Quarry

QUESTION #5: What part of the cookie mining activity simulated Strip Mining?

QUESTION #5:

ANSWER:The students who blasted through the cookie, leaving little of the whole cookie left, were simulating Strip Mining (also called Open Pit).

Cookie Blasters

QUESTION #6: What part of the cookie mining activity simulated Underground Mining?

QUESTION #6:

ANSWER:The students who carefully “drilled” around each chip with their tools and didn’t destroy their cookies, simulated Underground Mining.

Cookie Pickers

QUESTION #7: What part of the cookie mining activity simulated Quarry Mining?

QUESTION #7:

ANSWER:The students who started on one side of the cookie and slowly “chipped” into the cookie simulated Quarry Mining.Cookie

Biters

Once the mineral ores are removed from the Earth, they must be REFINED.

This diagram of a COPPER SMELTER shows copper concentrate being melted and separated from other substances in the concentrate. Molten copper is poured into MOLDS. The unwanted material cools to a glass-like substance called SLAG.

Lead Pigs

This Refining Plant produces 60-pound lead "pigs.”

Smelting Silver Bars

Smelting can produce lead, zinc, copper, gold and silver bars.

Smelting

During the smelting process, furnaces with temperatures of up to 3,000 oF are used to create LEAD BULLION.

QUESTION #8: This simulation didn’t show an example REFINING. How could we separate the chocolate from the cookie pieces that stuck to the chips?

QUESTION #8:

ANSWER:If you heated up the “chip ore,” the chocolate would slide off the cookie piece and you would have pure chocolate to make into a new candy bar!

RECLAMATION

It is regrettable, but unavoidable, that mining operations will bring changes to the land simply by existing. Most states have laws that require RECLAMATION - the returning of the land to the state it was in before the mining process began.

Reclamation

Active Mine Area after Reclamation

After mining is completed, when the land is reclaimed, it's hard to tell the mining site ever existed.

Reclamation

Since 1980, the mining industries in the United States have spent over $1.5 trillion toward environmental improvement.

Pre-Reclamation Post-Reclamation

Finger Lakes State Park

Before it was a state park, this state park was a strip mining site. The lakes are where the old strip mines were. The reclamation process turned the strip mines into lakes.

Restored Exploration Site

Restored exploration sites are re-seeded following state guidelines. These sites provide a variety of fresh sprouts, seeds and greens that attract turkey, deer, and other wildlife.

QUESTION #9: What part of the cookie mining activity simulated RECLAMATION?

QUESTION #9:

ANSWER:When you had to use your tools to push ALL the cookie pieces back inside the pencil line, or pay a stiff fine, you were simulating RECLAMATION!

The End

© Copyright 2007  M. J. Krech. All rights reserved.