Download Earth`s Mineral Resources

RESOURCES FROM THE EARTH
Active mining projects for Mitsui & Co., Ltd.
Renewable versus Nonrenewable resources…
Nonrenewable resource is on that if replenished by natural processes,
growth times are measured in millions of years rather than in annual
seasons.
A few more basic definitions:
•Ore: an aggregate of minerals in which one or more minerals can be
extracted profitably
•Smelting: chemical process to remove metal from ore
•Alloy: combination of 2 or more metals, i.e. Bronze = copper + tin
•Metallic minerals: those from which metals such as Cu, Au, Fe, & Zn can be
recovered by smelting.
•Nonmetallic minerals: those used for their physical or chemical properties,
that than for the chemical elements they contain.
•Mineral Deposits: any volume of rock containing an enrichment of one or
more minerals
The basic supply of minerals is limited by three major factors:
1. Usable minerals are limited in abundance and locality within the Earth’s crust.
No nation is self-sufficient where mineral supplies are concerned.
2. The quantity of a resource available is anyone country is never known with
accuracy because the likelihood that new deposits will be discovered is difficult
to assess.
3. Unlike fruit and vegetables, deposits of minerals are depleted by mining and
are eventually exhausted.
How are the reserves for a specific mineral
increased?
1. A technological innovation that reduces the amount
of iron ore lost during mining or smelting increases the
effective stock of that resource.
2. The (partial) substitutability within the economy of
virtually all resources for others is at the heart of the
second method for increasing the effective stocks of
natural resources. (conservation)
3. The third way we can increase our effective stocks of a
natural resource is, of course, by technological changes
that facilitate recycling.
ORIGIN OF MINERAL DEPOSITS
•Hydrothermal mineral deposits
•Magmatic mineral deposits
•Sedimentary mineral deposits
•Placers
•Residual mineral deposits
HYDROTHERMAL MINERAL DEPOSITS
Porphyry copper deposits are copper orebodies which are
associated with porphyritic intrusive rocks and the fluids that
accompany them during the transition and cooling from magma
to rock. Circulating surface water or underground fluids may
interact with the plutonic fluids. Successive envelopes of
hydrothermal alteration typically enclose a core of ore minerals
disseminated in often stockwork-forming hairline fractures and
veins.
MAGMATIC MINERAL DEPOSITS
Magmatic Deposits are so named
because they are genetically linked
with the evolution of magmas
emplaced into the crust (either
continental or oceanic) and are
spatially found within rock types
derived from the crystallization of
such magmas. The most important
magmatic deposits are restricted to
mafia and ultramafic rocks which
represent the crystallization
products of basaltic or ultramafic
liquids.
Chromite
Pegmatite
SEDIMENTARY MINERAL DEPOSITS
Any concentration of minerals formed through processes of
sedimentation. It has become common practice to refer to
those minerals formed through precipitation of substances
carried in solution—chemical sedimentary deposits rather
than clastic sedimentary deposits.
Stratabound Deposits occur when hydrothermal
fluids invade and react with muddy sediments
Placer deposits occur where barriers allow flowing
water to carry away the suspended load of light weight
particles, while trapping heavy particles.
How heavy?
Residual Mineral Deposits
Substances that are
concentrated by chemical
weathering processes, i.e.
bauxite.
Metallogenic Provinces
These are limited regions of the crust within which mineral
deposits occur in unusually large numbers.
Mineral deposits and plate tectonics
Fossil Fuels: the remains of plants and animals in
sedimentary rocks that can be used for fuel.
Coalification: Compression and hardening over long
periods of time, the processes by which coal is formed
from plant materials. The final product has lost most of
its volitiles and is highly inriched in carbon
Petroleum
Defined as gaseous, liquid, and semisolid naturally
occurring substances that consist chiefly of
hydrocarbons.
Oil Traps
Renewable Energy Sources
Wind
 Solar
 Nuclear
 Geothermal
 Hydroelectric
 Biomass
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How is energy generated?
There are four main stages:
1. the fuel is burned to boil water to make steam
2. the steam makes a turbine spin
3. the spinning turbine turns a generator which produces
electricity
4. the electricity goes to the transformers to produce the
correct voltage
The energy needed to boil the water comes from fossil fuels
or nuclear fuels. Renewable energy resources such as
wind and wave power may drive the generators directly.
1. the fuel is burned to boil water to make steam
2. the steam makes a turbine spin
3. the spinning turbine turns a generator which produces electricity
4. the electricity goes to the transformers to produce the correct voltage
Nuclear Power Generation
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Fission: a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom
splits into smaller parts.
Fusion: a nuclear reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei
join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus.
Breeder reactor: is a nuclear reactor that generates new fissile
material at a greater rate than it consumes such material.
Pressurized water reactor: the primary coolant (water) is
pumped under high pressure to the reactor core, then the
heated water transfers thermal energy to a steam generator.
Nuclear fuel cycle:
The Nuclear
Fuel Cycle