1. If it can’t be grown, it’s gotta be mined
Mineral Resources
If it can’t be grown, it’s gotta be mined

2. We depend on minerals for everyday products:

3. definition Something that can, and is, mined for use by humans
Includes such things as metals, coal, oil/gas, gravel, marble, etc.
Ore deposit: a rock in which mineral resources are concentrated
Economic ore deposit: an ore deposit which can be mined profitably

4. Profitablilty depends on
Level of concentration
Location
Energy costs (transportation, milling, mining, refining)
Price of the resource
Labor costs
“environmental” costs

5. Break into two basic types:
Metallic ore deposits
The metals – iron, aluminum, rare earths, copper, etc.
Non-metallic ore deposits
Sand, gravel, marble, gemstones

6. Now, let’s take a look at a few in some detail.

7. Aluminum 8% of the crust, needs to be concentrated (naturally) 3-4x.
It’s everywhere.
VERY tough to process – extremely high energy costs

8. Bauxite (aluminum). Million metric tons per year. USGS 2005

9. Alcoa in Wenatchee.
Recycling is good…..
Look at list of major smelters, compare to mining: elters

10. Deposits form from….
Extremely intense chemical weathering of granitic rocks.
Requires hot, wet environments.

11. Iron Crustal abundance, 5.8% Concentration factor 6-7x
Also very common.
Again, need to find it in the right form

13. Steel production

14. Copper Crustal abundance 0.0058 Concentration factor 100-200x
Primary uses
Copper wiring to transmit power
Radiators on cars
Copper alloys for buildings, downspouts, ships, etc.

16. Uranium Crustal abundance 0.00016 Concentration factor 500-1000x
Often weathering does this! Oxidation.
Primary uses
Nuclear fuel in reactors
Nukes
Depleted uranium tipped weapons

17. Production. Tons/year Country 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Kazakhstan
6637
8521
14020
17803
19451
21317
22451
23127
Canada
9476
9000
10173
9783
9145
8999
9331
9134
Australia
8611
8430
7982
5900
5983
6991
6350
5001
Niger 
3153
3032
3243
4198
4351
4667
4518
4057
Namibia
2879
4366
4626
4496
3258
4495
4323
3255
Russia
3413
3521
3564
3562
2993
2872
3135
2990
Uzbekistan (est)
2320
2338
2429
2400
2500
USA
1654
1430
1453
1660
1537
1596
1792
1919
China (est)
712
769
750
827
885
1500
Ukraine (est)
846
800
840
850
890
960
922
926

18. Largest Uranium Reserves In The World
Rank
Country
Uranium Reserves (metric tons) 1
Australia
1,706,100 2
Kazakhstan
679,300 3
Russian Fed
505,900 4
Canada
493,900 5
Niger
404,900 6
Namibia
382,800 7
South Africa
338,100 8
Brazil
276,100 9
USA
207,400 10
China
199,100 11
Mongolia
141,500 12
Ukraine
117,700 13
Uzbekistan
91,300

19. Rare Earth Elements (REEs)
Huh. They’re super rare. And need insane concentrations to be mined.
And are super useful – especially in our modern world. In fact, it’s only been the past few decades when they became relevant or important.

22. First, S Africa, then US, now, china.

23. https://investingnews
investing/critical-metals-investing/rare-earth- investing/rare-earth-producing-countries/
11e7-82b6-896b95f30f58

24. REE 97% mined in China (2010) – including ALL the heavy REEs

25. Insane geopolitical implications.

26. Diamonds Not particularly rare
Many industrial applications – hardest naturally occurring substance (Wurtzite boron nitride [synthetic] and lonsdaleite [which comes from meteorites] are both harder.)
DeBeers… sigh….
Blood diamonds
“Champagne” Diamonds

27. diamonds

28. Extracting and processing mineral resources impacts
the environment.

29. Strip mining is used in areas where the land is flat and the resource-deposit seam is horizontal and close to the surface.

30. Open-pit mining is used when the top of an ore deposit is close to the surface. Drilling and blasting loosen the rock.

31. Placer mining is used when sediments contain heavy metals like gold.

32. Subsurface mining is used when deposits are deep underground or in mountainous areas.

35. Mining also comes with
significant social impacts.

37. “The real question is not ‘do
we have enough [mineral resources],’ but rather ‘how far are we willing to go to access what we know is there?”
-George Rossman, geologist,
California Institute of Technology

38. We can minimize mining impacts through conservation.

39. Aluminum Recycling: A Success Story

40. Alternatives That Reduce Our Use of Mineral Resources:

41. “We’ve gone kind of upgrade mad in this country
“We’ve gone kind of upgrade mad in this country. If we used our cell phones and laptops until they naturally expired … we could really make a difference.”
-Brendan Cummings,
environmental attorney,
Center for Biological Diversity

42. Talk about landfill mining a bit

43. Cell phones?
esources/highschool/chemmatters/past- issues/archive /smartphones.html
arent-just-rare-theyre-irre
Recycle that stuff! ystems/Standalone_Mobile/How_much_precious_ metal_is_in_your_iPhone.aspx