Mining for…Cell Phones?

(1 of 3)
• The Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R. Congo) has been
embroiled in a regional conflict involving other countries and
rebel militias since 1998.
– During this time, local farms have been burned; civilians
raped, tortured, and killed; and others forced to work in
tantalum mines.
• Tantalum is a vital mineral for producing capacitors within the
circuit boards of many electronics.
Mining for…Cell Phones? (2 of 3)
• The fighting has caused people to flee
into national parks to escape the
fighting, leading to several ecological
problems:
– Clearing of rainforests for
fuelwood.
– Killing rare and endangered
animals for food, including the
okapi.
– Increased erosion rates around
streams.
– Runoff of toxic metals and other
chemicals from mining operations.
Mining for…Cell Phones? (3 of 3)
• Tantalum miners receive very little of the profits of their
work, as soldiers and rebels steal and sell it to international
traders instead.
– A grass-roots movement encouraged an embargo on
minerals from conflict-ridden areas of D.R. Congo.
• A 2002 peace treaty, followed by success of Congolese
troops and an African-led U.N. intervention brigade, has
helped reduce conflict in the region.
• Other black markets for minerals have emerged, including in
Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela in the northern Amazon
jungle.
Earth’s Mineral Resources
• Countless items we use are made from elements mined
from the Earth.
Figure 11.9 Elements from minerals that we mine are everywhere in the
products we use in our everyday lives.
We Obtain Minerals by Mining
• Mining refers to the systematic removal of rock, soil, or
other material for the purpose of extracting minerals of
economic interest.
– Mining also has a broader definition that can include
extracting other resources, such as fossil fuels and
water.
We Use Mined Materials Extensively
• At current rates of use, a child born in 2019 will use more than 1.4
million kg (3.1 million lb) of minerals and fuel during his or her lifetime.
– Most of this is for fossil fuels and construction material.
Figure 11.10 At current rates of use, an American baby born in 2016 is predicted
to use more than 1.4 million kg (3.1 million lb) of minerals over his or her lifetime.
Metals Are Extracted From Ores
• A metal is a type of chemical element, or a mass of such an element, that
typically is lustrous, opaque, and malleable, and is a good conductor.
• Most metals are not found in a pure state in nature; rather, they are found in
ore, a mineral or grouping of minerals from which we extract metals.
Figure 11.11 Tantalum is used to manufacture electronics.
We Process Metals After Mining Ore (1 of 3)
• Ores must be pulverized and Figure 11.12 A worker guides molten iron
washed before the desired out of a blast furnace.
minerals can be physically or
chemically extracted.
• Smelting is the process of
heating an ore beyond its
melting point and combining it
with other chemicals to extract a
metal.
• Smelting may also involve
combining a metal with another
metal or nonmetal substance,
forming an alloy.
We Process Metals After Mining Ore (2 of 3)
• Processing metals exerts many environmental impacts.
– Processing methods are often very water-intensive and
energy-intensive.
– Chemical reactions and heating processes emit air
pollution.
– Soil and water may be polluted from tailings, portions
of ore left over after metals have been extracted.
We Process Metals After Mining Ore (3 of 3)
• Tailings are often stored in large reservoirs called surface impoundments.
– If the wall of the impoundment is compromised, a large-scale spill can occur,
destroying aquatic ecosystems and contaminating local drinking water
supplies.
– Small-scale leaching is also common from these impoundments, as it is
difficult to properly line and maintain them.

Figure 11.13 This surface

impoundment at the Upper Big
Branch mine in West Virginia holds
coal tailings from a surface mining
operation.
We Also Mine Nonmetallic Minerals
and Fuels (1 of 2)
• Sand and gravel are the most commonly mined mineral
resources.
– These are nonmetallic but are useful for making
products such as concrete.
• Gemstones, limestone, salt, and potash are all examples
of other nonmetallic minerals.
We Also Mine Nonmetallic Minerals
and Fuels (2 of 2)
• This map shows a selection of economically useful mineral
resources.
– Some, such as the cobalt from D.R. Congo, are considered as
conflict minerals.
Figure 11.14 The minerals we use come from all over the world.
Mining Methods and Their Impacts
• Minerals of interest often make up only a small portion of
the rock in a given area, so large amounts of material must
be removed to obtain them.
– As a result, mining disturbs large areas of land and
exerts severe impacts on the surrounding environment.
• Multiple methods may be used to extract the resource,
depending on the nature of the deposit.
Strip Mining Removes Surface Layers of
Soil and Rock (1 of 2)
• Strip mining removes layers of surface soil and rock from large
areas to expose the resource.
– Strip mining is used when a resource occurs in shallow,
horizontal deposits near the surface.
– Afterward, the strip is refilled with overburden, and the miners
move to the next strip.

Figure 11.15 Coal mining

illustrates two types of
mining approaches.
Strip Mining Removes Surface Layers of
Soil and Rock (2 of 2)
• Strip mining exposes sulfide Figure 11.16 Acidic drainage flows
minerals, which react with from a coal mine in Scotland.
oxygen and water to produce
sulfuric acid.
– This enters waterways,
creating acid mine
drainage.
– The sulfuric acid also
leaches metals such as
iron from the rocks and
creating an orange color.
In Subsurface Mining, Miners Work
Underground (1 of 2)
• In subsurface mining, [Figure 11.15 Continued]
shafts are excavated deep
into the ground, and
networks of tunnels are dug
or blasted out to follow
deposits of the mineral.
– Workers are at risk from
dynamite blasts, natural
gas explosions,
collapsing mine shafts,
and inhalation of coal
dust and toxic fumes.
In Subsurface Mining, Miners Work
Underground (2 of 2)
• After operations cease, runoff Figure 11.17 Smoldering mine fires
through abandoned mines can beneath Centralia, Pennsylvania, have
led to the creation of a “ghost town.”
generate acid mine drainage.
• Old mines can also collapse,
creating sinkholes at the
surface.
– The Pennsylvania city of
Centralia is now a ghost
town because abandoned
mines underneath the town
caught fire and are still
burning today.
Open Pit Mining Creates Immense Holes
in the Ground (1 of 2)
• Open pit mining involves digging a gigantic hole and
removing the desired ore, along with waste rock that
surrounds the ore.
– This method is used when the mineral is spread widely
and evenly throughout a rock formation.
• Open pit mines are terraced so workers and machinery can
move about, and continue to be expanded as long as the
mine is profitable.
Open Pit Mining Creates Immense Holes
in the Ground (2 of 2)
• Open pit mines are so massive because of the amount of waste
rock that must be removed to extract small amounts of ore.
– The same pits, when used to extract clay, gravel, sand and
stone, are called quarries.

Figure 11.18 The Bingham

Canyon open pit mine outside
Salt Lake City, Utah, is the
world’s largest human-made
hole in the ground.
Mountaintop Mining Reshapes Ridges
and Can Fill Valleys (1 of 2)
• Mountaintop removal mining blasts off several hundred
vertical feet of a mountain to access an underground seam
of a mineral.
– The mountain’s forests must first be clear-cut and the
topsoil removed.
• The overburden has much more volume than the original
rock, so when it is placed back on the mountain, some is
dumped into adjacent valleys.
– This clogs streams and rivers and pollutes waterways
with acid mine runoff.
Mountaintop Mining Reshapes Ridges
and Can Fill Valleys (2 of 2)
• Mountaintop removal Figure 11.19 Mountaintop mining
drastically intensifies removes entire mountaintops to obtain
the coal underneath.
erosion, increasing the
frequency of mudslides
and flash flooding.
– This has caused the
EPA to revoke an
existing permit, and
reexamine the use of
this method across
the Appalachian
Mountains.
Placer Mining Uses Running Water to
Isolate Minerals
• If metals and gems Figure 11.20 Miners in eastern Congo
accumulate in riverbed find coltan by placer mining.
deposits, placer mining
can be used to separate
light and heavy materials
through the use of
running water.
– Miners in the D.R.
Congo use placer
mining to isolate high-
density tantalite.
Solution Mining Dissolves and Extracts
Resources in Place
• Minerals in deep deposits can be extracted by dissolving
them in a liquid through solution mining.
• A narrow borehole is drilled into the Earth and water, acid,
or another liquid is injected to leach out the mineral.
– Salt, lithium, potash, copper, and uranium can all be
extracted in this way.
Some Mining Occurs in the Ocean
• Seawater itself contains some minerals, such as
magnesium.
• Vacuum-cleaner-like hydraulic dredges can be used to
extract other minerals from the ocean floor.
– The logistical difficulty of reaching these minerals has
made their extraction too expensive to be practical.
Revisar (Obtener de la Plataforma)
Revisar (Obtener de la Plataforma)
SAND EXTRACTION
Restoration Helps to Reclaim Mine
Sites (1 of 2)
• The aim of reclamation is Figure 11.21 More mine sites are now
to restore the site to a being restored.
condition similar to its
condition before mining.
• This involves:
– Removing buildings
and other mining
structures.
– Replacing overburden.
– Filling in mine shafts.
– Replanting vegetation.
Restoration Helps to Reclaim Mine
Sites (2 of 2)
• The 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
requires U.S. companies to cover the costs of mining
reclamation before permits are approved.
• Research is ongoing to find new strains of plants that can
tolerate conditions in reclaimed sites, as well as treating
the acid mine runoff.
Toward Sustainable Mineral Use
• In addition to the impacts of mining, we also have to
consider that minerals are nonrenewable resources.
• Reducing waste and recovering and recycling used
mineral resources are key to the sustainable use of
minerals.
Minerals Are Nonrenewable
Resources in Limited Supply (1 of 2)
• Some minerals are so abundant that we will likely never run out.
• Other minerals, such as tantalum, have limited reserves that will
run out.
– The most dwindling is indium, a metal used in L CD screens,
with supplies that may only last another 30 years.
Figure 11.22 Minerals
are nonrenewable
resources, so supplies
of metals are limited.
Minerals Are Nonrenewable
Resources in Limited Supply (2 of 2)
• There are several reasons why estimates of mineral
availability change over time.
– New resources may be discovered.
– Rising prices of some minerals may favor the
development of enhanced mining technologies.
– Changing technological dynamics can increase or
decrease the demand for certain minerals.
– Economic booms and recessions will alter rates of
consumption.
– Recycling rates may increase, especially as prices
increase.
We Can Make Our Mineral Use More
Sustainable (1 of 3)
• Currently, only about 35% of metals in the U.S. municipal
solid waste stream are recycled.
– Increasing this rate will help to reduce the impacts of
mining and processing and will drastically reduce
energy consumption.
We Can Make Our Mineral Use More
Sustainable (2 of 3)
Table 11.2 Recycled minerals in the United States
Mineral U.S. Recycling Rate
Gold Slightly less is recycled than is consumed

Iron and steel scrap Nearly 100% for vehicles, 88% for appliances, 71–98% for
construction materials, 70% for cans
Lead 73% consumed comes from recycled post-consumer items
Nickel 47% consumed is from recycled nickel

Zinc produced is recovered, mostly from recycled materials used in

processing
Chromium 28% is recycled in stainless steel production
Copper 35% of U.S. supply comes from various recycled sources
Aluminum 45% produced comes from recycled post-consumer items
Tin 24% consumed is from recycled tin
We Can Make Our Mineral Use More
Sustainable (3 of 3)
[Table 11.2 Continued]
Mineral U.S. Recycling Rate
Germanium 30% consumed worldwide is recycled. Optical device
manufacturing recycles more than 60%
Molybdenum About 30% gets recycled as part of steel scrap that is recycled

Cobalt 29% consumed comes from recycled scrap

Niobium (columbium) Perhaps 20% gets recycled as part of steel scrap that is recycled
Silver 17% consumed is from recycled silver. The United States recycles
more silver than it mines
Bismuth All scrap metal containing bismuth is recycled, providing less than
5% of consumption
Diamond (industrial) 8% of production is from recycled diamond dust, grit, and stone

Data are for 2019, from U.S. Geological Survey, 2020. Mineral commodity summaries
2019. Reston, VA: USGS.