MINING 101

Have you used any of these lately?

School Bus?

Cereal?

Bicycle or Skateboard?

Car?

Alarm Clock?

Pencil or Computer?

Stove, Microwave, Cupboards, Countertops?

Coins?

Video Games?

Musical Instruments?

Toothbrush and Toothpaste?

Cellphone

Flatware or Television?

Do the items in the photographs have anything in common?

That’s a lot of rocks and minerals! How do you think we get all those rocks and minerals?

If you said “Mining,” you are right!

A mine is a place where rocks and minerals of value are extracted.

Government Permits are needed before and during all mining processes

The first phase of mining is called EXPLORATION.

What happens during exploration?

Satellites, airplanes and helicopters can be used to help find mineral deposits.

A geologist is a scientist who studies the Earth and it’s processes.

Radioactive minerals like uranium may be found with a Geiger counter.

If an area looks promising, a drill is moved to the site.

The drill goes deep into the Earth’s crust removing long cylinders of rock called cores.

Geologic maps are created.

What about the environment?

Before a mine can be opened, a complete environmental study is done so the land can be rehabilitated during and after mining.

Environmental protection throughout the mining process

What about people? What about people?

Mining provides resources to remote locations: Mining Towns Ketchikan, Alaska Mining provides resources to remote locations: Transportation Education Housing Jobs

For Example Battle Mountain Trades Program Newmont Mining Corporation High school students learned building and selling skills.

An African Project AngloGold Ashanti Create medical programs improving the quality of health for people living in areas near their mining operations.

There are two basic types of Mining.

Underground Mining

Surface Mining

Surface Mining Two-story high haul trucks can carry hundreds of tons of ore. Kennecott Utah Copper’s Bingham Canyon Mine

Surface mining Albert Frei & Sons Sand Quarry in Idaho Springs, Colorado Rock of Ages Granite Quarry in Barre, Vermont

Underground Mining Nickel Miners Underground Drill

Underground Mining Longwall coal mining cuts a slice from the long wall. Notice the safety gear that these miners wear everyday.

Miner Safety All mining companies have extensive safety training. No one can go underground without it. Miners must be certified and demonstrate safety knowledge.

is the process of removing mineral resources from the Earth’s crust. Extraction is the process of removing mineral resources from the Earth’s crust.

Drilling to set charges for a blast.

Carefully controlled blasting breaks up the rock.

Blasted ore is hauled to the crusher.

Crushers/grinders break up the ore to the size of small pebbles or sand.

Processing Minerals are different so many different types of processing are needed to remove them from the rock. Following are just a few processes.

Milling This rock contains gold. Milling is the process of separating the desired mineral from the unwanted rock (called gangue.) See if you can find the specks of gold.

Concentration and Flotation Some minerals are separated by washing, flotation or magnetic separation. Here a combination of water, chemicals, air and agitation make desired mineral particles float to the top of the bubbles.

Smelting Smelting uses high heat and chemicals to remove base metals and impurities from concentrates. Smelting furnaces can reach temperatures above 1064°Celcius. What would that number be in Fharenheit?

Leaching Ariel view of a leach pad at a copper mine in Morenci, Arizona. These pads are the size of several football fields. This one is being stacked with crushed ore.

Electrowinning Starter sheets are lowered into a solution. An electrical charge passes through causing copper ions to stick to the sheets.

How much land does Mining use in the US? Land used by Agriculture Washington D.C. Land used by 80 Years of Mining Nearly 50% has been reclaimed.

Reclamation Modern mines reclaim and rehabilitate the land during and after mining is completed, returning the land to useful purposes.

Reclaimed by Starvaggi Industries in West Virginia. Before After

ForkCreek Coal Mining Co., West Virginia Before After

Homestake Mining Company’s McLaughlin Gold Mine in California Before After

MINING 101 THE END