Minerals and Rock Resources. Minerals are taken out of ore deposits What is ore? Ore – a rock in...
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Transcript of Minerals and Rock Resources. Minerals are taken out of ore deposits What is ore? Ore – a rock in...
Minerals are taken out of ore deposits
What is ore?
• Ore – a rock in which a valuable or useful metal occurs and there is enough of it to be worth mining
• Examples: iron ore, copper ore, etc.
Examples of Metals obtained from Ores
• Aluminum (in bauxite rock) – vehicles• Iron (in iron ore) - appliances & vehicles• Metals for conductors or semi-conductors• Gems, gold, and silver – jewelry• Lead from galena (PbS)• Copper (Cu) from malachite and azurite• Zinc from sphalerite (ZnS)
When a mine will make money?
• Enough precious mineral in the ore• World demand for the mineral• Energy cost to take it out of the ground/processing• Human/labor cost• Distance to processing or market• Environmental cost (including remediation)
Types of mines
Surface – when the mineral is close to the surface
e.g. copper, diamond, gold, nickel, tin, zinc
Underground – mineral is too deep to be mined on the surface
e.g. sulfur, lead, silver
Impacts of mines
• Can change the landscape completely or only a bit
• Old & abandoned mines can collapse
• Waste rock can have heavy metals in it that pollute water
• Processing can pollute air