MINING Review notes from fossil fuels - coal

MINING Diamond mine, Siberia Largest hole Diamond mine, South Africa Largest hand-dug hole

Text Largest copper mine Utah

Some mined minerals other than coal

Mine tailings TAR CREEK OKLAHOMA Chat piles Damage from lead & zinc mines

TAILINGS - waste after ore has been processed. Often dumped in a “tailing pond” to allow sedimentation. Left to leach in soils or runoff into streams. Also called mine dumps. OVERBURDEN - materials located above mined minerals that is removed. How are tailings & overburden similar? different?

ACID MINE DRAINAGE (AMD) Acid mine drainage from gold mine in South Africa water with pH<5 with high concentrations of metals, from (usually abandoned) metal or coal mines SUBSIDENCE - to sink or settle down. Southeast of Picher, OK

MINING - ONE CAUSE OF SUBSIDENCE Centralia, PA after fire in coal mine Fire started in As of May 2012, still burning.

LEACHATE Leach: Make a soluble substance drain away from soil by percolation. Leachate: Liquid that passes through matter, extracting materials from the material through which it passes. Leachates are also created from factories, landfills and composting sites.

Tar Creek “Beneath it All” KOTV, 2011 Part I Part III Part Part III Picher 2012er 2012

What was found in high levels in children’s blood? What does elevated lead levels cause? What is subsidence? What causes sinkholes in this area? Describe the groundwater. How long has Picher been a “Superfund” site? How was contaminated soil “remediated”? What problems resulted?

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA OR SUPERFUND) Amended in 1986 Enacted to address abandoned hazardous waste sites. TAR CREEK - first site (worst) Run by the EPA

ORE - rock containing minerals, including metals that is extracted through mining. Metal ores - usually oxides, sulfides or silicates, not a pure metal Ores must be processed to extract metals Ores deposits may be due to volcanic activity, hydrothermal activity, sedimentary activity (alluvial for example) or other

Most processing techniques are variations of 1. crushing the ore into small pieces 2. heating the ore to liquify the metal 3. pouring off the liquid metal

Mining Laws & Regulations General Mining Law, 1872 Materials Disposal Act, 1947 Surface Resources Act, 1955 Federal Land Policy & Management Act, 1976 Surface Mining Control & Reclamation Act, 1977

General Mining Law, 1872 To mine you must demonstrate there is a valuable mineral deposit Show proper use or occupancy to support mining operations Have title to the claim Have performed $500 worth of improvements on claim Enacted to promote the exploration % development of domestic mineral resources, mostly in the West. U.S. citizens can freely prospect for minerals on federal lands, stake a claim and obtain a patent. These claims then become private property for a small fee This law is hotly debated? Why?

Materials Disposal Act, 1947 Govern the disposal & removal of certain mineral waste materials

Surface Resources Act, 1955 Decides whether mining claims before 1955 are free from restrictions. Governs the disposal and removal of certain mineral wast materials

Federal Land Policy & Management Act, 1976 Requires a validity determination before a mine plan can be approved. Regulated by the Bureau of Land Management

Surface Mining Control & Reclamation Act, 1977 Designed to prevent & repair environmental damage from coal strip mining. Requires miners to obtain a permit & submit a detailed reclamation plan