INTRODUCTION TO MINING 1.1 MINING’S CONTRIBUTION TO CIVILIZATION Mining may well have been the second of humankind’s earliest endeavors — granted that agriculture was the first. The two industries ranked together as the primary or basic industries of early civilization. Little has changed in the importance of these indu: since the beginning of civilization. If we consider fishing and lumbering as part of agriculture and oil and gas production as part of mining, then agriculture and mining continue to supply all the basic resources used by modern civilization. From prehistoric times to the present, mining has played an important part in human existence (Madigan, 1981). Here the term mining is used in its broadest context as encompassing the extraction of any naturally occurring mineral substances — solid, liquid, and gas—from the earth or other heavenly bodies for utilitarian purposes. The most prominent of these uses for minerals are identified in Table 1.1. The history of mining is fascinating. It parallels the history of civilization, with many important cultural eras associated with and identified by various minerals or their derivatives: the Stone Age (prior to 4000 B.c.E.), the Bronze Age (4000 to 5000 B.c.E.), the Iron Age (1500 B.C. to 1780 c..), the Steel Age (1780 to 1945), and the Nuclear Age (1945 to the present). Many milestones in human history — Marco Polo’s journey to China, Vasco da Gama’s voyages to Africa and India, Columbus’s discovery of the New World, and the modern gold rushes that led to the settlement of California, Alaska, South Africa, Australia, and the Canadian Klondike — were achieved with minerals provid- ing a major incentive (Rickard, 1932). Other interesting aspects of mining and metallurgical history can be found by referring to the historical record provided by Gregory (1980), Raymond (1984), and Lacy and Lacy (1992).fie RS defense, warfare Jewelry, cosmetics, dye ae Monetary exchange Shelter, transport Heat, power Industry Computers, communications Power, warfare The abundance of minerals Minerals can be marketed on t Possess them to obtain valuabl also provides a metho he open market, enabling the Countries ¢f © currency from countries that do not. Thi generally results in the minerals-rich countries being the great civilizations of the world while the have-not’ countries generally suffer from a lower standard of living. For more on this topic, see Section 1.6. The ability to use Mineral resources as a means of creating wealth opens the Possibility that given country or countries will attempt to control the entire market ina Particular mineral, that is, to create an ec C ‘at mineral. In 1973, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) attempted to control oil prices in a bold Maneuver to obtain windfall Profits from the oif they produced. Although successful in the short run, the cartel eventually lost ; effectiveness because of increased oil Production elsewhere and difficulty in controlling their own member countries. For a few years, OPEC ‘Was successful at regulating petroleum Prices in an awesome display of the value Of possessing and producing some of the World's most valuable minerals, Other cartels have likewise been attempted. However, the now makes such an attempt less likely d of creating wea 3 ‘ greater freedom in international trade 4 to succeed. 1.2 MINING TERMINOLOGY There are Many terms and ex, field and identify the user of Such terms as a “mining person.” The student of mining is thus advised to become familiar with all the terms used in ea 4 et rly those that are Peculiar to either mines or minerals. Most ol erminology is introduced in the sectigns of this book where bee plicable. So, hei ‘ me general terms are best defined at the oun e re. For a complete list of mining terminology, see a FY, 1980; American Geological Institute, 19 Pressions unique to mining that characterize the _atutaly occurring inorganic element or compound having an internal structure and a characteristic chemical composition, al form, and physical properties k: any naturally formed aggregate of one or more types of mineral particles _ Economic differences in the nature of mineral deposits is evident in the following terms: _ Ore: a mineral deposit that has sufficient utility and value to be mined at a profit. _ Gangue: the valueless mineral particles within an ore deposit that must be discarded. Waste: the material associated with an ore deposit that must be mined to get at the ore and must then be discarded. Gangue is a particular type of waste. A further subdivision of the types of minerals mined by humankind is also common. These terms are often used in the industry to differentiate between the fuels, metals, and nonmetallic minerals. The following are the most common terms used in this differentiation Metallic ores: those ores of the ferrous metals (iron, manganese, molyb- denum, and tungsten), the base metals (copper, lead, zinc, and tin), the _ precious metals (gold, silver, the platinum group metals), and the radio- active minerals (uranium, thorium, and radium). onmetallic minerals (also known as industrial minerals); the nonfuel mineral ores that are not associated with the production of metals. These “include pees. potash, halite, trona, sand, gravel, limestone, sulfur, S fuels, such as iat islets natural gas, coalbed ite, and uy sands. uni i thes oe ig sani igen ae theckeites ‘mineral resources. However, the production’ of petroleumolved into a separate industry with a speciali n. These mineral products will not be discussed in : ining in extracting mineral wealth from the earth is to drip ; SERN tions from the surface to the mineral deposit, oy these ings into the earth are meant to allow Personnel to enter j, Meee se osit. However, boreholes are at times used to extract sineral values from the earth. These fields of boreholes are also called min, ee a means to mine a mineral deposit, even if no one enters into the a5 ney areal of the deposit. Note that when the economic profitability of oy ire pe has been established with some confidence, ore or ore deposit ee Pie the descriptive term for the mineral occurrence. However, cog] Pe cciral mineral deposits are often mebigs. designated, even it their | profitability has been firmly established. If the eae wea mining is entirely open or operated from the surface, it is terme a surface mine. If the excavation consists of openings for human entry below the earth’s surface, it ig called an underground mine. The details of the procedure, layout, and equip. ment used in the mine distinguish the mining method. This is determined by the geologic, physical, environmental, economic, and legal circumstances that underground dep: pertain to the ore deposit being mined. a Mining is never properly done in isolation, nor is it an entity in itself. It is ‘preceded by geologic investigations that locate the deposit and economic analyses that prove it financially feasible. Following extraction of the fuel, industrial mineral, or metallic ore, the run-of-mine material is generally cleaned ‘or concentrated. This preparation or beneficiation of the mineral into a higher-quality product is termed mineral processing. The mineral products so produced may then undergo further concentration, refinement, or fabrication during conversion, smelting, or refining to provide consumer products. The end Step in converting a mineral material into a useful product is marketing, Quite frequently, excavation in the earth is employed for purposes other than mining. These include civil and military works in which the object is to produce a stable opening of a desired size, orientation, and permanence. Examples are vehicular, water, and sewer tunnels, plus underground storage facilities, waste disposal areas, and military installations. Many of these excavations are produced by means of standard mining technology. Professionally, the fields of endeavor associated with the mineral industries are linked to the phase or stage in which an activity occurs. Locating and exploring a mineral deposit fall in the general province of geology and the earth Stiences. Mining engineering, already defined, encompasses the proving (with ibe Bcologist), plant ing, developing, and exploiting of a mineral deposit. The ene engineer may also be involved with the closure and reclamation ol mine property, although he or she may share those duties with those in the _ environmental fields. The fields of Processing, refining, and fabricating 4° ie, metallurgy, although there is often some overlap in the mineral ‘ ng area with mining engineering. :1 human evolution and the advance of civilization, its simplest form began with Paleolithic humans some 450,000 o, evidenced by the flint implements that have been found with the of early humans from the Old Stone Age (Lewis and Clark, 1964). Our ancestors extracted pieces from loose masses of flint or from easily accessed outcrops and, using crude methods of chipping the flint, shaped them into tools and weapons. By the New Stone Age, humans had progressed to underground mining in systematic openings 2 to 3 ft (0.6 to 0.9m) in height and more than 30ft (9m) in depth (Stoces, 1954). However, the oldest known underground mine, a hematite mine at Bomyu Ridge, Swaziland (Gregory, 1980), is from the Old Stone Age and believed to be about 40,000 years old. Early miners employed crude methods of ground control, ventilation, haulage, hoisting, lighting, and rock breakage. Nonetheless, mines attained depths of 800 ft (250m) by early Egyptian times. Metallic minerals also attracted the attention of prehistoric humans. In- itially, metals were used in their native form, probably obtained by washing river gravel in placer deposits. With the advent of the Bronze and Iron Ages, however, humans discovered smelting and learned to reduce ores into pure metals or alloys, which greatly improved their ability to use these metals. The first challenge for early miners was to break the ore and loosen it from the surrounding rock mass. Often, their crude tools made of bone, wood, and stone were no match for the harder rock, unless the rock contained crevices or cracks that could be opened by wedging or prying. As a result, they soon devised a revolutionary technique called fire setting, whereby they first heated the rock to expand it and then doused it with cold water to contract and break it. This was one of the first great advances in the science of rock breakage and had a greater impact than any other discovery until dynamite was invented by Alfred Nobel in 1867. Mining technology, like that of all industry, languished during the Dark Ages. Notably, a political development in 1185 improved the standing of mining and the status of miners, when the bishop of Trent granted a charter to miners in his domain. It gave miners legal as well as social rights, including the right to stake mineral claims. A milestone in the history of mining, the edict has had long-term consequences that persist to this day. _ The greatest impact on the need for and use of minerals, however, was provided by the Industrial Revolution at the close of the eighteenth century. \long with the soaring demand for minerals came spectacular improvements g technology, especially in scientific concepts and mechanization, that ve continued to this day.nth cent iry, the ntion of d twentieth century, the inventi s the softer minerals like coal without the most notable of these acccomplishments iner Was. tested in about 1940, with its usefulness » velopment of tungsten carbide inserts in 1945 by Mc pany (now Kennametal). By 1950 the continuous mine; replace other coal mining methods. The era of mechanized m onicle all of the developments that made mining chronology of the important events is outlineg ible 1.2. It has been prepared using the references cited in Section 1.1, as as those by Stack (1982) and Molloy (1986). These sources can be used tg obtain a more comprehensive list of the crucial events in the development of “mining technology. 4.4 STAGES IN THE LIFE OF A MINE | ies in modern mining is often compared with the The overall sequence of activiti specting, exploration, development, exploita- five stages in the life of a mine: pro: tion, and reclamation. Prospecting and exploration, precursors to actual min- ing, are linked and sometimes combined. Geologists and mining engineers ‘often share responsibility for these two stages — geologists more involved with the former, mining engineers more with the latter. Likewise, development and exploitation are closely related stages; they are usually considered to constitute mining proper and are the main province of the mining engineer. Reclamation has been added to these stages since the first edition, to reflect the times. Closure and reclamation of the mine site has become a necessary part of the mine life cycle because of the demands of society for a cleaner environment and stricter laws regulating the abandonment of a mine. The overall process of developing a mine with the future uses of the land in mind is termed sustainable 7 _ development. This concept was defined in a book entitled Our Common Future (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987) as “develop: 6 ‘ment that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability ire generations to meet their own needs.” The ideas presented therein have 1 widely endorsed as a practical means of providing for future generatio! e stages in the life of a mine are summarized in Table 1.3, an th he following sections. There will be more extensive discussion in Chapters 2, 3, and 4. 4Early use of fabricated metals; start of Bronze Age. First recorded mining, of turquoise by Egyptians in Sinai. é Probable first smelting, of copper with coal by Chinese; first use of iron implements by Egyptians. Earliest known gold artifacts in New World, in Peru. Steel used by Greeks. Thriving Roman mining industry, Coal used by Romans in present-day United Kingdom. Edict by bishop of Trent gives rights to miners. First recorded mining in New World, by Spaniards in Cuba. First use of lift pump, at Joachimstal, Czechoslovakia. First mining technical work, De Re Metallica, published in Germany by Georgius Agricola. 1585 Discovery of iron ore in North America, in North Carolina. 1600s Mining commences in eastern United States (iron, coal, lead, gold). 1627 Explosives first used in European mines, in Hungary (possible prior use in China). 1646, First blast furnace installed in North America, in Massachusetts. 1716 First school of mines established, at Joachimstal, Czechoslovakia. 1780 Beginning of Industrial Revolution; pumps are first modern machines used in mines. 1800s Mining progresses in United States; gold rushes help open the West. 1815 Sir Humphrey Davy invents miner’s safety lamp in England. 1855 Bessemer steel process first used, in England. 1867 Dynamite invented by Nobel, applied to mining. 1903 Fra of mechanization and mass production opens in U.S. mining with development of first low-grade copper porphyry, in Utah; although the first modern mine was an open pit, subsequent operations were underground as well. 1940 First continuous miner initiates the era of mining without explosives. 1945 Tungsten carbide bits developed by McKenna Metals Company (now Kennametal). Prospecting ecting, the first stage in the utilization of a mineral deposit, is the search or other valuable minerals (coal or nonmetallics). Because mineral may be located either at or below the surface of the earth, both direct i ct prospecting techniques are employed.Locate favorable loci (maps, literature, old mines) airborne geophysics, satellite d, Surface: ground Gaatt geophysics, geology : e, Spot anomaly, analyze, evaluate Defining extent and value of 2 Sir ore (examination/evaluation a, Sample (drilling or excavation), assay, test b. Estimate tonnage and grade ¢. Valuate deposit (Hoskold formula or discount method): present = income — cost ity study: make decision to abandon or develop. Mining Proper 3. Development Opening up ore deposit for _ (Prospect) production a, Acquire mining rights (purchase or lease), if not done in stage 2 b. File environmental impact Statement, technology assessment, permit ¢. Construct access roads, transport system d. Locate surface plant, Construct facilities ©. Excavate deposit (strip or sink shaft) 2-5 yr $1-15 million or $0.20 -1.50/t0n ($0.22 - 1.65/tonne) 10-500 million or $0.25~10.00jt0n (80.275~11,00/tonne)cast a Inderground: room and pillar, block caving, ete. ©. Monitor costs and economic payback (3— 10 yr)