MINERALS

General Classification of
Nonrenewable Mineral
The U.S. Geological Survey classifies
Resources

mineral resources into four major

categories:

Identified: known location, quantity,

and quality or existence known based on
direct evidence and measurements.
Undiscovered: potential supplies that
are assumed to exist.
Reserves: identified resources that can
be extracted profitably.
Other: undiscovered or identified
resources not classified as reserves

General Classification of
Nonrenewable Mineral
Resources
Examples are

fossil fuels
(coal, oil),
metallic
minerals
(copper, iron),
and nonmetallic
minerals (sand,
gravel).
Figure 15-7

GEOLOGIC PROCESSES

Deposits of nonrenewable mineral

resources in the earths crust vary
in their abundance and distribution.
A very slow chemical cycle recycles
three types of rock found in the
earths crust:

Sedimentary rock (sandstone, limestone).

Metamorphic rock (slate, marble,
quartzite).
Igneous rock (granite, pumice, basalt).

Erosion
Transportation

Weathering
Deposition

Igneous rock
Granite,
pumice,
basalt

Sedimentary
rock
Sandstone,
limestone

Heat, pressure
Cooling
Heat, pressure,
stress

Magma
(molten rock)

Melting

Metamorphic rock
Slate, marble,
gneiss, quartzite

Fig. 15-8, p. 343

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF
USING MINERAL RESOURCES

Minerals are removed through a variety

of methods that vary widely in their
costs, safety factors, and levels of
environmental harm.
A variety of methods are used based on
mineral depth.

Surface mining: shallow deposits are

removed.
Subsurface mining: deep deposits are
removed.

Mining Regulations

The General Mining Act of 1872 is a United

States federal law that authorizes and
governs prospecting and mining for
economic minerals, such as gold, platinum,
and silver, on federal public lands. This
law, approved on May 10, 1872, codified
the informal system of acquiring and
protecting mining claims on public land,
formed by prospectors in California and
Nevada from the late 1840s through the
1860s, such as during the California Gold
Rush.

Open-pit Mining

Machines dig
holes and
remove ores,
sand, gravel,
and stone.
Toxic
groundwater
can
accumulate at
the bottom.
Figure 15-11

Area Strip Mining

Earth movers
strips away
overburden, and
giant shovels
removes mineral
deposit.
Often leaves
highly erodible
hills of rubble
called spoil
banks.
Figure 15-12

Contour Strip Mining

Used on hilly or
mountainous
terrain.
Unless the land
is restored, a
wall of dirt is
left in front of
a highly
erodible bank
called a
highwall.
Figure 15-13

Mountaintop Removal

Machinery
removes the tops
of mountains to
expose coal.
The resulting
waste rock and
dirt are dumped
into the streams
and valleys
below.

Figure 15-14

Environmental Impacts of
Mining

Acid Mine Drainage

Erosion and Sedimentation
Cyanide & Other Toxic Releases
Dust Emissions
Habitat Modification
Surface and Groundwater
Contamination

Coal mining affects the

environment

Strip mining causes severe soil erosion and

chemical runoff
Acid drainage = sulfide minerals on exposed
rock surfaces react with oxygen and rainwater
to produce sulfuric acid
Mountaintop removal causes enormous damage

Coal mining harms human

health

Subsurface mining is harmful to human health

Mine shaft collapses
Inhalation of coal dust can lead to fatal black lung
disease
Costs to repair damages of mining are very high
These costs are not included in the market prices of
fossil fuels, which are kept inexpensive by government
subsidies
Mining companies must restore landscapes, but the impacts
are still severe
Looser of restrictions in 2002 allowed companies to dump
rock and soil into valleys, regardless of the consequences

Now what do we do with

it?

Once the ore is mined and hauled

to the surface, it must be
processed

Tailings are what is left behind

once the valuable portion of the ore
is removed.
Gangue is the commercially worthless
minerals associated with a valuable
find.

Mining Impacts

Metal ores are

smelted or
treated with
(potentially
toxic) chemicals
to extract the
desired metal.

Figure 15-15

Gold Processing

Gold is treated with a Cyanide

compound which produces a GoldCyanide complex which is soluble

Problem:
toxic

Hydrogen Cyanide gas is

Hyperaccumulation

Hyperaccumulator plants accumulate

inordinate amounts of one or more
Trace Elements (TE)s in their above
ground biomass.

Hyperaccumulators species may accumulate

one or more of a range of TEs that
currently includes nickel, manganese,
zinc, cadmium, thallium, copper, cobalt
and arsenic.
Hyperaccumulation may have applications
in mining in the future.

Natural Capital Degradation

Extracting, Processing, and Using Nonrenewable Mineral and Energy Resources

Steps

Environmental effects

Mining

Disturbed land; mining

accidents; health hazards,
mine waste dumping, oil
spills and blowouts; noise;
ugliness; heat

Exploration,
extraction
Processing

Use

Solid wastes; radioactive

material; air, water, and
soil pollution; noise;
safety and health
hazards; ugliness; heat

Transportation or
transmission to
individual user,
eventual use, and
discarding

Noise; ugliness; thermal

water pollution; pollution
of air, water, and soil;
solid and radioactive
wastes; safety and health
hazards; heat

Transportation,
purification,
manufacturing

Fig. 15-10, p. 344

Mining Waste

Subsidence is a phenomenon where the

surface collapses directly above a
subsurface mine.
Spoils are the unwanted rock and
other waste left over after mining
either on the surface or subsurface
Tailings are the materials left over
after the process of separating the
valuable fraction from the worthless
fraction of an ore.

What to do with the

waste

Incorporate the mine waste into

Concrete for buildings

Backfill for roads
Extraction of other minerals

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF
USING MINERAL RESOURCES

The extraction, processing, and use

of mineral resources has a large
environmental impact.
Figure 15-9

SUPPLIES OF MINERAL
RESOURCES

The future supply of a resource

depends on its affordable supply and
how rapidly that supply is used.
A rising price for a scarce mineral
resource can increase supplies and
encourage more efficient use.

SUPPLIES OF MINERAL
RESOURCES

Depletion curves
for a renewable
resource using
three sets of
assumptions.

Dashed vertical
lines represent
times when 80%
depletion
occurs.
Figure 15-16

SUPPLIES OF MINERAL
RESOURCES

New technologies can increase the

mining of low-grade ores at
affordable prices, but harmful
environmental effects can limit this
approach.
Most minerals in seawater and on the
deep ocean floor cost too much to
extract, and there are squabbles over
who owns them.

Getting More Minerals

from the Ocean

Hydrothermal
deposits form
when mineralrich superheated
water shoots out
of vents in
solidified magma
on the ocean
floor.
Figure 15-17

USING MINERAL RESOURCES

MORE SUSTAINABLY

Scientists and engineers are

developing new types of materials
as substitutes for many metals.
Recycling valuable and scarce
metals saves money and has a lower
environmental impact then mining
and extracting them from their
ores.

Solutions
Sustainable Use of Nonrenewable Minerals
Do not waste mineral resources.
Recycle and reuse 6080% of mineral resources.
Include the harmful environmental costs of
mining and processing minerals in the prices
of items (full-cost pricing).
Reduce subsidies for mining mineral resources.
Increase subsidies for recycling, reuse, and
finding less environmentally harmful substitutes.
Redesign manufacturing processes to use less
mineral resources and to produce less pollution
and waste.
Have the mineral-based wastes of one
manufacturing process become the raw
materials for other processes.
Sell services instead of things.
Slow population growth.
Fig. 15-18, p. 351

Controls

Surface Mining Control and

Reclamation Act of 1977:
regulates active coal mines and
reclaims abandoned mines

Standards of Performance.
Permitting.
Bonding.
Inspection and Enforcement.
Land Restrictions.

SMCRA

SMCRA and its implementing regulations set

environmental standards that mines must
follow while operating, and achieve when
reclaiming mined land.

Requirements
SMCRA requires

that companies obtain permits before conducting surface mining. Permit

applications must describe what the premining environmental conditions and land use are, what
the proposed mining and reclamation will be, how the mine will meet the SMCRA performance
standards, and how the land will be used after reclamation is complete. This information is
intended to help the government determine whether to allow the mine and set requirements in the
permit that will protect the environment.
Bonding.

SMCRA requires that mining companies post a bond sufficient to cover the cost of
reclaiming the site. This is meant to ensure that the mining site will be reclaimed even if the
company goes out of business or fails to clean up the land for some other reason. The bond is not
released until the mining site has been fully reclaimed and the government has (after five years in
the East and ten years in the West) found the that the reclamation was successful.
Inspection

and Enforcement. SMCRA gives government regulators the authority to inspect

mining operations, and to punish companies that violate SMCRA or an equivalent state statute.
Inspectors can issue "notices of violation," which require operators to correct problems within a
certain amount of time; levy fines; or order that mining cease.
Land

Restrictions. SMCRA prohibits surface mining altogether on certain lands, such as in

National Parks and wilderness areas. It also allows citizens to challenge proposed surface mining
operations on the ground that they will cause too much environmental harm.

Case Study:
The Ecoindustrial
Revolution

Growing signs point to an

ecoindustrial revolution taking place
over the next 50 years.
The goal is to redesign industrial
manufacturing processes to mimic how
nature deals with wastes.

Industries can interact in complex

resource exchange webs in which wastes
from manufacturer become raw materials
for another.

Case Study:
The Ecoindustrial
Revolution

Figure 15-19