1. 4.3 Using Mineral Resources
Key Concepts
How are minerals used?
How are ores produced to obtain metals?
Vocabulary Terms
Gemstone
Ore
Smelting
alloy

2. Uses of Minerals
Modern civilization uses many minerals and you are surrounded by materials that come from minerals all the time
Minerals are the source of gemstones, metals and a variety of materials used to make many products

3. *Think – Pair – Share*
Talk with the people at your table and create a list of products you can name that are made from minerals.
Remember the 5 characteristics of minerals!

4. Uses of Minerals
Gemstones – hard colorful minerals with a brilliant or glassy luster.
Gemstones are valued for their color, luster, durability and rarity.
Gems are cut and polished gemstones
Can be used for jewelry, decoration, mechanical parts and polishing.

5. Uses of Minerals Metals Some minerals are the sources of metals
Ex) aluminum, iron, copper or silver
Metals can be stretched, flattened, hammered or molded without breaking
Ex) aluminum foil, steel beams, or copper wire

6. Uses of Minerals Other useful minerals
There are many other useful minerals besides metals and gems.
People use materials from minerals in foods, medicines, fertilizers, and building materials.

7. Uses of Minerals
Talc: Baby powder, soapstone, gymnastics to grasp bars
Gypsum: Wall board, Plaster of paris
Bauxite: Aluminum foil, Airplane parts/ aluminum
Copper: Tubing, electrical wires, sculptures
Borax: Antiseptic soaps/welding flux/cleaner-found in dry lake beds
Sulfur: Fungicides, kills bacteria, vulcanizes rubber, in coal/fuels
Muscovite/Mica: White, gray material in electrical insulators
Halite: Salt
Calcite: Hard water deposit/part of limestone rock of ancient sea beds/forming along shores of the Great Salt Lake
Limonite/Taconite: Source of Iron / around Cedar City
Feldspar: Ceramics and porcelain, colors in granites (not black)
Quartz /Quartz crystal: Glass manufacturing, radios/computers /electronic equipment
Diamond: Cutting tools/ blades/ saws
Lead: Primarily used in the construction of batteries.
Aluminum: Cans, aircraft and automobile construction, sporting and electronic equipment, appliances.

8. USA Mineral Areas

9. Crushed and broken stone
PA Minerals Mined
Crushed and broken stone
Lime
Sand and Gravel
Coal
Portland Cement
Principal Minerals Mined Here!

10. STOP and THINK!
What are some ways that the use of minerals has affected the development of society?
Think about the ways we use minerals and apply those uses to the ways society has been changed.

11. Producing Metals from Minerals
To produce metal from a mineral, a rock containing the mineral must be located through prospecting and mined.
Then the rock must be processed to extract the metal.

12. Producing Metals from Minerals
Most metals are not found in pure form
They occur as a mineral that is a combination of metal and other elements
Ore – is a rock that contains solid metal or other minerals that can be mined and sold for profit

13. Producing Metals from Minerals
Prospecting – searching for an ore deposit
Geologists prospect for ores by observing rocks on and beneath the surface
Geologists can map the size and shape of an ore deposit by measuring the magnetic field.
Depending on the map of the ore deposit, geologists determine the type of mining they will do to extract the ore.

14. Producing Metals from Minerals
Mining
There are three types of mines: strip mines, open pit mines and shaft mines.
Strip mines – the soil is scraped away to expose the ore
Open pit mines – large pits are dug to remove the ore deposits
Shaft mines – tunnels extend deep into the ground following the veins of ore.

15. Strip Mining

16. Open Pit Mining

17. Shaft Mines

18. Producing Metals from Minerals
Smelting – ore is mixed with other substances and melted to separate the useful metal from the other elements.
Ore must be processed before the metals contained in it can be used

19. Figure 13 on page 134 of your text book.

20. * Think – Pair – Share *
Work with a partner and answer the following questions.
The chemical formula for hematite is Fe2O3
What does the chemical symbols stand for?
What is the purpose of smelting?
What is added to the iron ore?
Where does the oxygen go?

21. Producing Metals from Minerals
Further Processing
Additional processing is needed to remove impurities from metal
Alloys are solid mixtures of two or more elements and at least one is a metal
Carbon + iron = steel
Steel + chromium + nickel = stainless steel

22. Section Summary We discussed how minerals are used.
Uses include gemstones, metals and other uses (glass, talcum powder, electronics)
We learned the steps that must occur so that pure metals can be available to society.
Ores must be found (prospecting), mined (3 types) and processed (smelting)