AFFIRMATION
“As a Christ-centered
Paulinian, I am a Dedicated,
Transformative SUPPORTER
and STEWARD of ALL
CREATION, impelled by
compassion and charity for
all.”
History of Mining
Spanish and Portuguese colonists clustered in the cities they founded,
such as Lima and Santiago, or that they took over from native peoples,
such as Mexico City (built on the site of Tenochtitlán), and in nearby
farms. They established gold and silver mines wherever they could,
but most of these were distant from major zones of native settlement.
Few of these ventures greatly disrupted indigenous culture or made
heavy demands on the native labor forces. The major exception was
the enormous silver-mining complex of Potosí in southern Bolivia. To
work these rich deposits, colonial officials required indigenous males
to work the mines, usually for six months at a time. Many were
accompanied to the mining sites by their wives and children. When
their turns were finished, most returned to their home communities.
Mining
Mining - the process of obtaining useful
minerals from the earth
Mining normally means an operation that involves the
physical removal of rock and earth.
What is a mine?
Mine is a hole in the ground for extracting
minerals, often in the form of ore.
What is an ore?
An ore is a mineral or combination of
minerals from which a useful substance,
such as a metal, can be extracted and
marketed at a price that will recover the
costs of mining and processing and yield a
profit.
Mined Substances
METALLIFEROUS ORES
ores of gold, iron, copper, lead, zinc, tin, and
manganese, and
NONMETALLIFEROUS MINERALS,
coal, quartz, bauxite, trona, borax, asbestos,
talc, feldspar, and phosphate rock
Gold, diamonds, tin, and platinum are often
found in placers, or deposits of sand and
gravel containing particles of the mineral.
Placer mining
Placer mining involves
excavating loose, or alluvial,
deposits such as sand,
gravel, silt, or clay. Valuable
minerals are separated from
the alluvial materials through
a system of screens, jigs,
and sluices. Placer minerals
include metals such as gold,
platinum, and tin, and gems
such as diamonds and
rubies.
ALLUVIAL - relating to, consisting of, or formed by
sediment deposited by flowing water
Jig -
Sluice- a long inclined trough used to separate
gold ore from sand or gravel
Screen - a sieve used to filter out fine particles,
e.g. of sand or gravel
Mining operations
Mining operations generally progress through
four stages:
(1) prospecting, or the search for mineral deposits;
(2) exploration, or the work involved in assessing the
size, shape, location, and economic value of the
deposit;
(3) development, or the work of preparing access to the
deposit so that the minerals can be extracted from
it; and
(4) exploitation, the work of extracting the minerals
Modern prospecting
Teams of geologists, mining engineers,
geophysicists,and geochemists work
together to discover new deposits.
Modern prospecting methods include:
1. regional geological studies to define
areas where mineralization is likely to
have occurred;
2. broad surveys by sophisticated instruments
mounted in airplanes and artificial earth
satellites to discover anomalies in the earth’s
magnetic field, electrical fields, or radiation
patterns in order to define the most promising
locations;
3. visual examinations of the surface area for
coloring, rock formations, and plant life;
4. chemical analyses of soil and water in the
area;
5. and surface work with geophysical
instruments
exploration
EXPLORATION WORK includes:
1. digging pits
2. sinking exploration shafts
3. core-drilling operations
all of which tend to define the physical limits of the ore body
and permit a more reliable estimate of its economic value.
The findings may dictate the method used to reach
the ore body, the extent of the development work,
and the best method of exploitation.
The decision to develop an ore body is reached
as soon as sufficient information is available to
indicate a profitable return on the financial
investment.
Complete certainty about the full potential of
the mineral is not crucial at this point;
exploration work can continue over many years
while the deposit is being mined.
DEVELOPMENT
After the decision is made to mine an ore deposit,
the mode of entry and the extent of lateral or
subsidiary development must be determined.
If the ore body lies at or near the surface and
extends to a depth of no more than a few hundred
feet, it may be developed by an open-pit
excavation, using power shovels and large trucks.
If, however, it is deep or steeply inclined, access may be
made through a vertical or inclined shaft, an adit, or
crosscut tunnels.
The topography of the region, the geometry and
physical nature of the ore body, and the proposed
method of exploitation have a bearing on this decision.
TOPOGRAPHY - the study and mapping of the
features on the surface of land, including natural
features such as mountains and rivers and
constructed features such as highways and railroads
When the terrain is nearly flat, entry must be made
through a shaft. In mountainous regions, access to the
ore body may be gained through an adit, a nearly
horizontal tunnel from which crosscuts may be driven
at right angles to reach the ore.
TERRAIN- distinct section of Earth's crust: a
section of the Earth's crust that is defined by
clear fault boundaries, with stratigraphic (verical section
and structural properties that distinguish
through ground)
it from adjacent rocks
SHAFT-vertical passage: a vertical passage,
especially one in which an elevator
travels or one that gives access to a mine
ADIT-access shaft: a nearly horizontal shaft used
for giving access to a mine or for drainage
OUTLAY - money spent: an amount of money
spent
HOIST – a device for lifting
STOPE- an excavation that resembles steps, used
especially in the mining of ore
Underground Mine Shaft
Underground mines are established in
areas with promising ore deposits. The
shaft is the primary vertical channel
through which people and ore are
transported in and out of the mine. The
miners’ elevator is called a cage, and
the ore reaches the surface via a car
called a skip. A ventilation system near
the main shaft ensures that miners
receive fresh air and prevents the
accumulation of dangerous gases. A
system of crosscuts connects the ore
body to the main shaft at several levels,
and these levels are, in turn, connected
by openings called raises. Stopes are
the chambers where the ore is broken
and mined.
Chute - slope to drop things down: an inclined
channel or passage that something can
slide down
Drifts-material carried along: an amount of
something carried along on a current of air
or water
Shaft sinking involves a larger outlay of capital
and higher operating costs than an adit or
crosscut opening.
A shaft requires:
1. hoisting equipment to raise the ore and
rock to the surface
2. pumping equipment to dispose of any water
present
3. structural support for the rock
4. mechanical equipment operating in the
shaft.
Development
In an adit, drainage occurs naturally in all
workings above the adit as a result of
gravity, and structural support is usually not
as costly or extensive.
Problems encountered in sinking of a shaft
The problems encountered in the sinking of a shaft
may be great, especially if water-bearing strata need
to be pierced.
The water-bearing strata must be cemented or
frozen before excavation begins, and lining the shaft
with concrete becomes necessary.
Even in dry strata, deep shafts are often lined in
order to withstand the lateral pressures in the rocks
through which they are sunk.
After the shaft or adit is completed, lateral
development takes place, and crosscuts are
driven to reach the ore deposit at different levels.
An extensive mine may have a main hoisting shaft
and one or more auxiliary shafts or adits for supplies
and ventilation.
Many state mining laws require mines to be
equipped with at least two points of entry and
egress to improve the degree of safety for miners.
VENTILATION - the means of supplying fresh
air to an enclosed space, e.g. an
opening or equipment installed in a
building
EGRESS- an exit from a place
Strip mine - surface mine: a mine where
mineral seams near the surface of
Coal Strip Mine
This excavated area, which
borders farmland, has been
strip mined for coal. Since the
late 1970s, strip mining has
surpassed underground
mining in the United States as
a means for excavating coal.
Because of the large coal
removal equipment used in strip
mining, this method is nearly
three times more productive
than underground coal mining.
Coal Auger in Strip Mine
After the surface of a hill
is stripped, a giant auger
drill bores through the
sides to get at the rich
coal beds underneath
the topsoil. The drills
may penetrate as far as
30 m (100 ft).
Arthur Tress/Photo Researchers, Inc.
auger- corkscrew-shaped
for boring the ground
An Idaho miner operates a jack-
leg drill more than 1500 m (5000
feet) below the surface. Miners in
the Lucky Friday mine face the
same dangers encountered in all
deep shafts: potential buildup of
hazardous gases, explosive coal
dust, and possible roof collapse.
Good ventilation systems, rock-
dusting with limestone, and
extensive steel reinforcement are
used to lower the possibility of
these accidents.
Ted Clutter/Photo Researchers, Inc.
Open-Pit Copper Mine, Utah
Metallic copper and copper
ores, such as chalcopyrite and
bornite, are mined in open-pit
mines from deposits near the
earth’s surface. Further refining
is necessary to separate the
copper from impurities such as
sulfides, carbonates, iron, and
silicates. Copper is used
extensively in electrical
components because of its
high conductivity. Shown here
is one of North America’s
largest open-pit copper mines,
located in Kennecott, Utah.
Mine Machinery
A mammoth earth-
mover prepares to hoist
ore in an Australian iron
mine. The machine uses
tanklike tracks to
traverse the floor of the
mine, and its shovel is
capable of lifting heavy
loads of rock into trucks
for transport.
Canada
• Decisions regarding the management of resources
have often led to political conflict and lawsuits.
Alternative methods of resolving these conflicts are
increasingly being promoted. One method is
mediation, in which an intermediary helps the
opposing sides resolve a problem. In Ontario a joint
agency was set up to make recommendations to the
provincial government on land allocation and resource
management in the Temagami region north of Toronto.
The agency included representatives of government,
indigenous peoples, and the general public.
Environmental effects of Mining
Dust produced during mining operations is generally
injurious to health and causes the lung disease known as
black lung, or bypneumoconiosis .
Some fumes generated incomplete dynamite explosions are
extremely poisonous.
Methane gas, emanating from coal strata, is always
hazardous although not poisonous in the concentrations
usually encountered in mine air, and radiation may be a
hazard in uranium mines.
A tight and active safety program is usually in operation in
every mine; where special care is taken to educate the miners
in safety precautions and practices, accident rates are lower.
• Write your reflection in a long bond paper. Be creative in writing your
reflection.
• Thank you.
