Mining
And its environmental impact
Outline
1.
Types of Mining (and why we use
them)
2. Beneficiation
3. Smelting
4. Environmental Concerns of 1
through 3
What determines the type of
mining?
Underground
Solution
v.s. Surface Mining v.s.
Depth of below surface
Size of the ore body
Shape of the ore body
Grade
Type of Ore
Depth and Size
Shape of Ore Body
versus
Type of Ore
Is
the ore mineral soluble in water?
Can the ore be melted?
What are the types of
mining?
Surface
Strip
Open Pit
Placers--Dredging
Underground
Solution
When do you use Surface
Mining?
Large
tonnage
High rates of production
Overburden (including rock)
is thin
Strip Mining of Coal
Kansas Geological Survey
Open Pit Mining
Some photos and
machinery used in openpit mining
?Dinky Toy?
Drilling in pit
Crushing in pit
Loading ore in pit
Underground Mining
When do we mine
underground?
The
ore deposit is deep
Ore body is steep
Grade is high enough to cover costs
Some types of underground
mining
Room
and Pillar
Cut and Fill
Long wall (coal)
Shrinkage Stoping
Block Caving
Room and Pillar
Cut and Fill
Long Wall
Shrinkage Stoping
Block Caving
[Link]/s/Mongolia_ImageGallery
Solution Mining
Beneficiation
Means of separation of ore mineral
from waste material (or gangue
minerals)
Also known as Liberation
What does it entail?
Crushing
and Grinding
Ball mill or rod mill
Separation
Density (e.g. diamonds with a jig)
Magnetic properties
Electric properties
Surface properties
Refining the Ore
Smelting
removes the metal from the ore mineral
by a variety of ways
Heap Leaching
removes metal from the ore by solution
Iron in review
Blast
Furnace
3CO + Fe2O3
4CO + Fe3O4
2 Fe + 3CO2 (gas)
3Fe + 4CO2 (gas)
Sulphide Minerals
Are
sometimes roasted
Heated in air without melting to
transform sulphides to oxides
Gives off H2S and SO2
Then oxides processed like Fe
Sulphides contd
Process
of roasting and smelting
together creates a matte
Sulfides are melted into a matte and air
is blown through. S is converted to
sulfur dioxide and Fe to iron oxide, and
Cu and Ni stay in melt
Smelting
Result at Kidd Creek
Sulphides contd
Solvent
extraction/electroplating
Used where rock contains Cu but in too
little amounts to be recovered by
classical methods
Heap Leaching
In
this process, typically done for Au,
the ore is not ground, but rather,
crushed and piled on the surface.
Weak solutions of NaCN (0.05%)
percolate through the material
leaching out the desired metals.
The solutions are collected and the
metals are precipitated
Potential Environmental
Problems
A.
Mining operation itself
Disposal of a large amount of rock and
waste
Noise
Dust
Beneficiation
Smelting
and refining
From Underground Mining
Subsidence
Block/caving
Room and pillar
Salt mining (Droitwich)
Subsidence in ranchers
field
Subsidence from Pb-Zn
mining
From Underground
Acid
Mine Drainage
FeS minerals in coal
Sulphide deposits
Acidic streams can pick up heavy
elements and transport them
Rock that has acid forming
material
Drainage
Acid and open pits
Berkley Pit
Other problems with open
pits
Very
large holes
Pit slopes steep and not stable.
Cannot be maintained
May fill with water
Strip coal mines loss of top soil in
past
Now smoothed out and top soil added
Disposal of Waste Rock
More
problematic for open pit than
underground
Waste rock piles have steep angle of
repose and thus may not be stable
Bingham in its hay day produced
400,000 tons of waste rock per DAY!
Tailings ponds
From
pH
concentrating usually have high
At Bingham acid waters mixed with
tailings water to neutralize
Different
problems
metals have different
Problems with
Smelting/Roasting
Air:
SO2 and CO2 and particulate
matter
Noranda Quebec used to have the
highest single point source of SO 2 in the
world. It may have been surpassed.
CN (Au); NaOH and F (Al); solvents
(electrotwinning); heavy metals; oil and
grease
