MINING. What to Mine Metallic Minerals ▫Metals Iron, gold, silver, nickel, zinc Fossil Fuels ▫Energy resources Coal, natural gas, oil Industrial Minerals.

MINING

What to Mine

•Metallic Minerals▫Metals

Iron, gold, silver, nickel, zinc•Fossil Fuels

▫Energy resources Coal, natural gas, oil

•Industrial Minerals▫Soapstone, asbestos, diamonds, gravel

Where to Mine•Primarily Canadian Shield

▫Remote Areas▫Metallic Minerals are found in

metamorphic and igneous Rock Ore Bodies – Rock containing enough metallic

minerals to make mining profitable Magnetic field can be detected where mineral

quantities are high

How Does Mining Happen

•The miner’s job is to break ore and rock from the ground and get it from the mine to the surface for processing.

•There are two types of mining we will consider in more detail:▫Open-pit mining & Underground mining

Open-Pit Mining

•Open-pit mining - is used to extract minerals that are located near the surface. ▫It is the least expensive kind of mine, and is

every developer’s first choice, where… an ore-body is situated close to the surface is big enough has little overburden

•Overburden - is the rock, soil, and ecosystem that lies above the rock that contains the mineral desired for mining.

Underground Mining• Underground mining – is used to extract

mineral ores located deep in the earth.

1)Blasting ▫ Holes are drilled into the rock (stope) and ore ▫ Holes are loaded with explosives which are

detonated to break the rock. Large blasts are usually set off electrically from

the surface once all the underground workers are out of the mine, usually at the end of the work shift.

2) Mucking (loading and hauling)▫ Once the ore has been broken it is called muck▫ Front-end loaders or rail cars remove the muck

to a central underground location where it is dropped to the crusher.

Cost Of Mining•Finding a Profitable Mineral Resource•Thinking Question:

▫You’re thinking of joining a sports team. You happen to go to a game and an unexpected team is winning. You assess their skill level, and it seems pretty good. You start to think that you might like to join this team because you like to play competitively and win. Do you... A) go to the coach and try to get on the team? B) talk to a few guys on the team to get a feel for

them? C) talk to a few guys on the team and some other

people who know the team in terms of their success?

Explain your answer.

Cost of Mining•Relate to Mining

▫Your walking around a park one day and your collecting rocks. You see a few of them seem to have gold in them. Do you...

▫A) start digging?▫B) look around a little more and bring in an expert?▫C) talk to some of the locals and see if there is any

evidence of mineral wealth?•Cost of mining is very expensive

▫Mineral wealth must be confirmed in order to make an effective profit

Cost of Mining: Lets Break it Down•What are some costs that could be

involved in the profitable industry of mining?▫Think...

People Geologist Miners

Technology Equipment Processing Environmental Disturbance

Reclamation

Reclamation

•Reclamation - is the process of protecting, restoring, and possibly even improving the land, especially after surface mining.

▫The goal is land preservation so that nature is protected, water and soil are conserved, and the land can be turned into productive farmland, forests, and lakes.

Let’s Practice Mining•Cookie Mining•PURPOSE:

▫ The purpose of this game is to give the player an introduction to the economics of mining.

▫This is accomplished through the player buying their property, purchasing the mining equipment, paying for the mining operation, and finally paying for the reclamation.

▫In return the player receives money for the ore mined.

▫The objective of the game is to make as much money as possible.

•INSTRUCTIONS:•1. Each player starts with $19 of play money.•2. Each player receives a Cookie Mining sheet and a sheet of

grid paper.•3. Each player must buy his/her own mining property, which

is a cookie. Only one mining property, per player. Cookies for sale are:

•Great Value - $3.00•Chips Ahoy - $6.00•4. After the cookie is bought, the player places the cookie on

the grid paper and, using a pencil, traces the outline of the cookie. The player must then count each square that falls inside the circle. Note: Count partial squares as a full square.

•5. Each player must buy his/her own .mining equipment. More than one piece of equipment may be purchased. Equipment may not be shared between players. Mining equipment for sale is:

•Toothpick - $4.00 each•Paper clips - $6.00 each•6. Mining costs are: $1.00 per minute.•7. Sale of a chocolate chip mined from a cookie

brings $2.00 (broken chocolate chips can be combined to make 1 whole chip).

•8. After the cookie has been mined, each player must reclaim their cookie mine by placing the remaining cookie parts back into the original circle drawn on the graph paper. Any squares within the original circle that are no longer covered are assessed a $1.00 fee each. This can only be accomplished using the mining tools - No fingers or hands allowed.

•RULES:•1. No player can use their fingers to hold the

cookie. The only thing that can touch the cookie are the mining tools and the paper on which the cookie is sitting.

• 2. Players are allowed a maximum of six minutes to mine their chocolate chip cookie. Players that finish mining before the six minutes are used up should only credit the time spent mining.

• 3. A player can purchase as many mining tools as the player desires and the tools can be of different types.

• 4. If the mining tools break, they are not longer usable and a new tool must be purchased.

• 5. The players that make money by the end of the game win.