1. Mineral Resources

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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

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

12. 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

13. 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