Learning Objectives


 Explain the variety of nonrenewable
mineral resources and some
environmental impacts of using them.
 Enumerate the several ways of
removing mineral deposits and;
 Discuss the harmful effects of mining
on the environment.
 Mineral Resource
I t

is a concentration of naturally
occurring material from the earth’s crust
that we can extract and process into raw
materials and useful products at an
affordable cost.
 2 Major Types of Minerals

 Metallic Minerals
(aluminum and gold)
 Nonmetallic Minerals
(sand and limestone)
Minerals and rocks take so long so
they are classified as nonrenewable
resources.
 ORE

It is a rock that contains
a large enough
concentration of a
particula r m iner a l –
often a metal – to make
it profitable for mining
and processing.
High & Low-Grade Ore

High-grade ore contains a large
concentration of the desired
mineral.
Low-grade ore contains a smaller
concentration.
 Nonrenewable metal and nonmetal
mineral resources have a variety of uses:

Aluminum is used for packaging and
beverages cans, and as a structural
material in motor vehicles, aircraft, and
buildings.
Iron is used to make steel, an essential
material used in buildings and motor
vehicles. Steel is a mixture (alloy) of iron
and other elements that are added to give
it certain physical properties.
v Manganese, cobalt, chromium are widely used
in important steel alloys.
v Copper is a good conductor of electricity, is
used for electrical and communications wiring.
v Gold is used in electrical equipment, tooth
fillings, jewelry, coins, and some medical
implants.
v S an d i s u s e d t o m a k e g l a s s , b r i c k s , a n d
concrete for the constructions of roads and
buildings.
v Gravel is used for roadbeds and to make
concrete.
v Phosphate salts are mined and used in organic
fertilizers and in some detergents.
 
Most published estimates of the
supply of a given mineral resource
refer to its reserves: identified
resources from which we can
extract the mineral profitably at
current prices.
 Several Ways to Remove
Mineral Deposits
Surface mining

§ Overburden
§ Open-pit mining
§ Strip mining
§ Area strip mining
§ Contour strip mining
§ Mountaintop removal
Subsurface mining
 Surface Mining

s h a l l o w m i n e r a l d e p o s i t s a r e
removed in which materials lying
over a deposit are removed to
expose the resource for processing.
 Overburden

The soil and rock overlying a
useful mineral deposit is removed.
It usually deposited in piles of
waste material called spoils.
 Open-pit Mining

The machines dig very large holes
and remove metal ores (such as
iron, copper, and gold ores) as well
as sand, gravel and stone (such as
limestone and marble).
 Strip Mining

It is useful and economical for
extracting mineral deposits that lie
in large horizontal beds close to the
earth’s surface.
 Area Strip Mining

It is used where the terrain is fairly
flat, a gigantic earthmover strips
away the overburden, and a power
shovel – which can be as tall as a
20-story building – removes the
mineral deposits.
 Contour Strip Mining

It is used mostly to mine coal in
hilly or mountainous terrain.
Gigantic power shovels and
bulldozers cut a series of terraces
into the side of the hill.
 Mountaintop Removal

This form of mining is commonly
used, explosives, earth movers,
large power shovels, and other
machines with huge buckets, called
draglines used to remove the top of
a mountain and expose seams of
coal, which are then removed.
 Subsurface Mining

Deep deposits of minerals are
removed in which underground
mineral resources are removed
through tunnels and shafts.
This method is used to remove
coal and metal ores that are too
deep to be extracted by surface
mining.
 Mining Has Harmful
Environmental Effects

Mining can do long-term harm to the
environment in a number of ways.

1. Scarring and disruption of the land surface.

2. Subsidence – the collapse of land above some
underground mines.
3. Acid mine drainage – occurs when rain water
that seeps through a mine or a spoils pile that
carries sulfuric acid.
Removing Metals from Ores Has
Harmful Environmental Effects

Ore extracted by mining typically has two
components: the ore mineral
(containing the desired metal) and waste material
or gangue.

Tailings – removing the waste material from ores

produces piles of waste.

Smelting – heating ores to release material

 Mineral Resources Are
Distributed Unevenly

mineral resources evenly among countries.
The earth’s crust contains fairly abundant deposits
of non-renewable mineral resources such as iron
and aluminium. But deposits of important mineral
resources such as manganese, chromium, cobalt,
and platinum are relatively scarce. The earth’s
geologic processes have not distributed deposits
of non-renewable
United States, Canada, Russia, South Africa, and
Australia – these five nations supply most of the
world’s non-renewable mineral resources.

South Africa – the world’s largest producer of

chromium and platinum.

United States, Germany and Russia – with only 8% of

world’s population, consume about 75% of the most
widely used metals.

China – rapidly increasing its use of key metals such

as copper, aluminium, zinc and lead and consumes
twice as much steel as U.S , Europe, and Japan
combined.
 Supplies of Nonrenewable Mineral
Resources Can Be Economically Depleted

The future supply of non renewable minerals depends on two
factors: the actual or potential supply of the mineral and the rate at
which we use it.

We have never completely run out of any mineral, but a mineral

becomes economically depleted when it costs more than it is worth to
find, extract, transport, and processes the remaining deposits.

Five choices: recycle or reuse existing supplies, waste less, use less, find a
substitute, or do without

Depletion time is the time it takes to use up certain proportion

–usually 80%- of the reserves of a mineral at a given rate of use.
Market Prices Affect Supplies
of Nonrenewable Minerals

According to standard economic theory, in a
competitive market system, a plentiful mineral
resource is cheap when its supply exceeds
demand. When a resource becomes scarce, its
price rises. This can encourage exploration for
new deposits, stimulate development of better
mining technology, and make it profitable to
mine lower-grade ores.
 Can We Get More Minerals
from the Ocean?

Most of the chemical elements found in seawater occur in such low
concentrations that recovering these mineral resources takes more energy
and money than they are worth. Only magnesium, bromine and sodium
chloride are abundant enough to be extracted profitably.

Hydrothermal ore deposits that form when superheated, mineral-rich

water shoots out of vents in volcanic regions if the ocean floor. As the hot
water comes into contact with cold seawater, black particles of various
metal sulphides precipitate out and accumulate as chimney-like structures
called black smokers.

Manganese nodules – cover large areas of Pacific Ocean floor and smaller
areas of Atlantic and Indian Ocean floor.
 We Can Find Substitutes for Some
Scarce Mineral Resources

Some analysts believe that even if supplies of
key minerals become too expensive and too
scarce due to unsustainable use, human
ingenuity will find substitutes. They point to the
current materials, particularly ceramics and
plastics are being used as replacement for
metals.