What is a mineral?

A naturally occurring solid with:

• Characteristic chemical composition

• orderly internal structure

• Characteristic set of physical properties.

How do I use minerals?

• Aluminum: transportation, packaging, construction, foil

• Copper: electric cables, plumbing, wiring in electronics, roofing

Bauxite – the ore from which Aluminum is extracted

Malachite – the ore from which copper is extracted

Bingham Canyon Copper MineSalt Lake City, Utah

Two and a half miles across and three quarters of a mile deep

How do I use minerals?

• Iron: most iron ore is combined with other minerals to form make steel (used in construction, vehicles, trains and train tracks)

• Lead: batteries for cars, electronics, TV glass, protective covering from x-rays.

Galena – a common ore of lead

Iron ore

Coltan and War• Coltan is the ore of

Tantalum • Used as capacitors in cell

phones, computers, playstation etc.

• 80% of ore is found in the Democratic Republic of Congo

• Cost $400/kg• Money from smuggled

ore fuelled a bloody civil war

• Mining has begun in biodiverse National Parks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OWj1ZGn4uM

Coal: The most abundant fossil fuel

• The U.S. has the world’s largest coal reserves (enough for the next 225 years)

How do companies know where to mine?

• Planes with instruments that i.d. changes in magnetism and radioactivity fly over the area

• Satellite images and aerial photos are used to create a geological map

• Rock samples are taken to determine the metal content of the ore

• Test holes are drilled• Cost-benefit analysis is conducted

Subsurface mining

• Underground coal mining is one of the world’s most dangerous occupations

• Mine shafts can collapse

• Miners are constantly exposed to coal dust

Subsurface Mining

• Room and Pillar Mining. A room is cut into the side of a mountain. Pillars of mineral are left to support the roof.

Surface Mining• Often used to mine large

quantities of coal and copper.

• Ore is mined downward, layer by layer

• The rock covering coal seams (overburden) is removed by machine

• Overburden is dumped in the valley

 

Mountain top removal in Appalachia

• More than 1/3 of U.S. coal comes from Appalachian

• The hardwood forests of Appalachia are some of the most productive and biodiverse temperate forests on Earth

• Since 1970, an estimated 1.5 million acres of hardwood forest have been lost.

• Over 470 mountaintops have been blasted

1,200 miles of Appalachian streams have been buried

Surface mining Control and Regulation Act (SMCRA 1977)

• SMCRA requires that "all surface coal mining operations back-fill, compact... and grade in order to restore the approximate original contour of the land.”

• UNLESS…the proposed post mining land use is deemed to constitute an equal or better economic use of the affected land as compared to pre mining use.

Not all coal is the same

• Coal varies in the amount of impurities (sulfur, mercury, arsenic and other trace metals) it contains

• Coal in the Eastern U.S. is higher in sulfur because it formed from marine sediments

• High sulfur coal contributes to industrial smog and acid rain

• Mercury emitted may bioaccumulate in organisms’ tissues, poisoning animals up the food chain

Clean Coal technologies

1. Scrubbers: using materials such as calcium or sodium to absorb SO2 from smokestack emissions

2. Chemical reactions: convert NOX to N2 and H2O

3. Filters to remove ash particles

Some environmentalists argue: “there is no such thing as clean coal!”