Minerals and Resources. Minerals Versus Rocks Mineral - any naturally formed, solid chemical element...
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Transcript of Minerals and Resources. Minerals Versus Rocks Mineral - any naturally formed, solid chemical element...
![Page 1: Minerals and Resources. Minerals Versus Rocks Mineral - any naturally formed, solid chemical element or compound that has a definite composition and crystalline.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022062322/56649cb75503460f9497dc79/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Minerals and Resources
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Minerals Versus Rocks
Mineral - any naturally formed, solid chemical element or compoundthat has a definite composition and crystalline structure
Rock - any natural, solid aggregate material, usually made of minerals
All minerals are rocks, but not all rocks are made of minerals
Quartz Granite
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Mineral Properties
• Chemical composition• Crystalline shape• Hardness• Color• Streak• Luster• Cleavage• Fracture• Specific Gravity• Magnetism
These properties are used toidentify different minerals
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Chemical Composition
Extremely important for the minerals industry. Often want an element or compound in mineral, and not necessarily the mineral itself
Ex.: iron and sulfur from iron pyrite (FeS2)
Identifying a mineral by chemical composition requires submitting a sample for chemical analysis; can be time consumingand expensive
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Crystalline Shape
Useful for identification; of little use for industry, as crystallineshape can be replicated in lab
Jewelry about the only use for this property; even then, the fact that crystals can be artificially created means that their value isartificial, as well
Shape normally determined by chemical formula
Hope Diamond
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Hardness
1 = Talc2 = Gypsum3 = Calcite4 = Fluorite5 = Apatite6 = Orthoclase7 = Quartz8 = Topaz9 = Corundum10 = Diamond
Mho’s ScaleRelative scale based upon what mineral will scratch what mineral
Ex. Orthoclase will scratch apatite, but quartz will scratch orthoclase
Fingernail is about a 2.5; steel nail = 5.5
Diamond is hardest, which means that itdoes have some industrial application
Hardness does not relate to elemental scarcity or value
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Color and StreakColor - what color unmolested mineral appears to be
Streak - color of ground mineral
These two can be radically different. Ex.: Iron pyrite color is gold (fool’s gold); streak is blackHematite is black/gray; streak is red-brown
Color is unreliable as identifier since impurities can change it;streak is more reliable
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Other Properties
Depending upon mineral, will use a variety of other identifiers
Magnetism - used to identify iron ores
Cleavage - used to identify minerals like mica and gypsum thatform crystals that loosely bond together
Fracture - helps to identify minerals with crystalline shapes thatdo not cleave
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Mineral Types
• Silicates (feldspars, garnets, micas, olivine, quartz, clay minerals)• Native Elements (diamond, sulfur, gold)• Sulfides (galena, pyrite, millerite, sphalerite)• Sulfates (barite, celestite, gypsum, secondary sulfates)• Oxides (goethite, hematite, ilmenite, limonite, uranium minerals)• Carbonates (calcite, dolomite, other iron-carbonate and others)• Phosphates (apatite, vivianite, pyromorphite)• Halides (fluorite, halite)
Based upon the key elements in the chemical composition,minerals are grouped into subcategories
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Silicates
The largest group of minerals (30% of all minerals; 90% of wholecrust); defined by having SiO4 tetrahedra
Includes some gemstones such as tourmaline and topaz
Also has useful minerals such as talc, kaolin, and mica
Rocks made from silicates very useful for road and building materials
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Native Elements
Contains all of the metals (gold, silver, copper, etc.) and metal alloys
Also includes diamonds and graphite (carbon)
Rare to find elements in their natural state; oftentimes, a primary method of metal extractions is from some other classEx. Copper and lead from sulfide minerals
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Strategic Resources
Defn. - resources that a country uses, but cannot produce enoughto meet demand
If cannot guarantee supply, economy could be hurt if suppliescut; Ex. OPEC oil embargo of 1973
Wealthy nations try to stockpile surplus to act as buffer againstoutside forces affecting economy
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Mining
Vulcan Materials pit mine, Kennesaw, GA, 1993
Hollywood image of old manwith mule, pick axe, anddynamite all but disappeared
Most economic mining done on huge scale with big equipment
• Open pit - dig deep into the ground, exposing new rock to surface• Stripmining - shallow mine over large area• Underground mining - tunnels
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Open Pit
Mineral ore dug from deep holecreated in the surface.
Walls of pit have roads built into them for cranes, trucks, etc. to be able to get to bottom
Economics of recovery have to constantly be re-evaluated, as holemust get wider as go deeper (walls are the road system)
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Stripmine
Differs from open pit in horizontal extant
Stripmines are going after near horizontalseam of materials that are near the surface
Overburden is stripped from seam, and then mineral is extracted
Once mineral removed, overburden putback on top
Federal law now requires remediation
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Underground Mining
Pickaxe and dynamite have been replaced by large tunneling equipment that doesthe job safer and faster
Must leave some pillars of material behind, lest a cave-inensue
Most dangerous form of mining
Miner safety in jeopardy from cave-ins and dust (black lungdisease)
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Other Techniques
Hydraulic mining - sediments are blasted from hillside with waterjets; sediment is sent through sluice boxes; not done much in U.S., but is done many other places (South America)
Dredging - similar to hydraulic mining, with the exception being thatthe sediment is scooped out of the ground instead of being blastedout with water
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Mining Pollution
Superfund Sites
• Water passing through mine leaches toxic chemicals• Tailings piles and ponds erode and contain toxics• Processing chemicals are toxic and sometimes released• Land slumpage when cave-ins occur• Underground fires can burn for decades• Many mines are abandoned when economics fail• Energy used for entire process is large
Pictures from Berkeley Pit in Butte Montana
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Processing
Some rocks and minerals take very little processingEx: crushed rock for roads and construction material
Others take an incredible amount of energy and produce greatquantities of waste
Smelting - heating metal ores to extreme temperature to releasemetal; gaseous vapors are toxic and often acidic
Leach extraction - pour acid or base on crushed piles of ore, extract metal from leachate by electrolysis; crushed ore is leftto contaminate water supply when finished, with acid or basestill present
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Recycling
• Besides saving environmental damage for extraction and processing, can save huge quantities of energy
• Recycling aluminum saves 95%• Recycling glass saves 25%• Recycling steel saves between 60-75%• Recycling plastic saves 33%
of the energy needed to make them from virgin materials
Recycling just one aluminum can will save enough energy torun a 100W lightbulb for 20 hours