Mineral Resources

Minerals = inorganic solids (elements or compounds) occur naturally in or on Earth’s crust

Rocks and Ores rocks are mixtures of minerals ores are rocks that contain large enough concentrations of a particular mineral to be: profitably mined extracted

How do we get minerals for human consumption? Discovery Extraction if the minerals are near the surface, we use surface mining (cheaper!) the overburden must be removed in order to scoop out the minerals we either create quarries or spoil banks, depending on the type of surface mining done

Still Gettin’ Those Minerals Processing often involves smelting (the process in which ore is melted at high temperatures to separate impurities from the molten metals) blast furnaces used for smelting must use pollution-control SOx

Environmental impacts associated with mineral mining and refining: causes erosion b/c mining destroys the existing vegetation uses huge amounts of water (when the water table is reached in an open-pit mine, the water is pumped out and wasted to keep the mine dry) affects the water quality  rocks exposed by mining often contain sulfides and metals  when rain -> sulfuric acid -> increases the solubility of metals (lead, cadmium, and arsenic) increasing their toxicity

Acid Mine Drainage Occurs when these toxins wash into nearby lakes and streams (often in “pulses” due to rainstorms) ~80% of the ore are impurities  tailings (after they are removed from the minerals)

Tailings Often left in piles near processing plants  contain toxins such as cyanide and mercury, which wash into waterways and groundwater Restoration of mining land (curbed by lack of funding, partly because SMCRA only covers coal mines) have to fill in the land with new soil and grade the land to its natural contours

Remediation cont. vegetation then has to be planted to keep the soil in place (have to use plants that can grow in contaminated soils, such as twist flower to remove nickel)  phytoremediation wetlands and cow manure can be used to neutralize acids in the soil and water

Future Outlook Unlikely that we will “run out” of minerals any time soon Some will become more scarce or may become difficult or impossible to import depending on our relationship with other countries  economic considerations

as technology improves, it may become more feasible to exploit resources frozen or other hard-to-reach places

Antarctica May have substantial deposits but because of the Madrid Protocol, no mineral exploration can take place until at least 2040 (Antarctica is “dedicated to peace and society”) Extremely fragile and animal populations have been disturbed by relatively minor interferences already Antarctica plays a vital role in regulating global temperature and sea level

Any Alternatives? In some cases, we have found substitutes, such as plastics (which have their own problems) and ceramics  this is not possible for all minerals at this point reduce  reuse  recycle make products that are more durable and repairable