Minerals
What is common between are Aluminium, Cobalt, Manganese, Platinum?
They are native element minerals.
Removing (stripping) surface vegetation, dirt, and, if necessary, layers of bedrock in order to reach buried ore deposits is called ...
Surface mining
What types of environmental effects do you know?
Erosion, sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water by chemicals from mining processes etc.
What is the 3rd step of the mining process?
Construction
Describe what is rehabilitation?
When a mine has ended its productive life, the site needs to be returned to the way it was before the mine was built.
What is the name of a natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit?
Ore
Surface mining techniques include:
open-pit mining, quarrying, strip mining, mountaintop removal, landfill mining .
What else must mining companies do in terms of communication?
Mining companies should also communicate with the traditional owners of the land to ensure that any important cultural sites are protected.
What is mining?
the process by which the minerals are recovered, using various tools and machines
Name 3 popular resources that are mined in Australia?
Iron, Gold, Uranium
What are gangue minerals?
Minerals with no commercial value.
What type of mining consists of digging tunnels or shafts into the earth to reach buried ore deposits?
Underground mining
What is an acid rock drainage?
The outflow of acidic water from metal mines or coal mines.
State the advantages of underground mining
-Little impact on the environment
-Minerals can be extracted from much deeper depths than surface mining.
Which mining company faced legal action for illegally mining on a cultural site?
Rio Tinto
What is froth flotation?
The desired ore is carried away on a frothy emulsion of oil and water
What is in-situ leaching?
A mining process used to recover minerals such as copper and uranium through boreholes drilled into a deposit, in situ.
What are effects of mine pollution on humans?
There are many diseases that can come from the pollutants that are released into the air and water during the mining process.
List the 5 steps of processing minerals in order
Crushing/Grinding, Separation, Mineral Enrichment, Extraction, Electrolysis
What is smelting?
The process of getting a metal from a rock by heating rock to a very high temperature
What is electrolysis?
extracting a metal from its ore or purifying it using electricity
Which mineral is Australia the world’s largest exporter for?
Iron
What are tailings?
The materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore.
Describe the Crushing/Grinding step of processing minerals after they are mined
The ore is first crushed as smaller pieces are easier to process
It is important that they find out the quality and size of the mineral, why?
To determine whether it would be cost effective to mine the mineral because a mining project is extremely expensive once it has started.