Download APES Day 105! 2/19/04

APES Day 87…return to your
mines and complete (15 minutes)
How did your mines do? Did you make a profit? What would have
to do to process (purify and distribute) the resource? Ores, Fossil
Fuels (Natural gas, coal, oil), uranium?
External costs?
Full-cost pricing factors in external costs in the price of
goods/services
Internal costs?
Marginal costs?
Intangible costs?
Costs/Benefit analysis
How does the 1977 Surface Mining Reclamation Act assist
(SMRCA)?
Price Elasticity

High Price elasticity: Restaurants dinner, Plasma
TV, Laptops, Refrigerators, Chocolates
Low Price elasticity: beef, loaves/ bread, table salt,
beer, MacDonald's chicken nuggets, bottled water
at Airport
High Income elasticity: Luxury Cars, Artwork
Paintings, Air conditioners, Perfumes, Costly
Jewelry
Low Income elasticity: Gasoline, bread, eggs, milk
General Mining Law of 1872
 take
valuable hardrock minerals including
gold, silver, and uranium from public
lands without royalty payment to the
taxpayer -- unlike other mining industries
that extract coal, oil or natural gas;
 buy valuable mineral bearing public lands
for no more than $5 per acre -- 1872
prices
 BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT which is
part of the Department of Interior
Processing the ore

Removing the gangue produce piles called
tailings..can runoff from wind or water to
contaminate surface or groundwater

Placer Mining - Hydraulically washing out metals
deposited in streambed gravel.


Destroys streambeds and fills water with suspended solids
Heap-leach-Crushed ore piled in large heaps and
sprayed with a dilute alkaline cyanide solution which
percolates through the pile to dissolve the gold.

Effluent left behind in ponds.
Processing continued
 Smelting
Roasting ore to release metals.
Major source of air pollution. Lead and other heavy
metals…video action…cost/benefits
SMCRA
Steps to Restore Land
 Re-contouring
land to original
topography
 Improve soil quality by adding
topsoil/nutrients
 Replanting native vegetation
 Monitoring the land for 5/10 years
Based on climate
 The
more arid the harder it is
 Low
precipitation
 Low fertility of the soils
 wind erosion and runoff due to slower
growth
Coal is high in sulfur
 Acidification
can result: groundwater,
surface water, soil
 Heavy metals broken down and
transported
 Reduced plant growth because of the
lower pH
Remedies to Coal tailings
 Buffer
with limestone
 Cover tailings
 Catch basins or ponds
 bioremediation
Burning of Coal leads to…
 Increase
carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide
hence global warming and acid
precipitation
 Mercury and arsenic released
 Thermal pollution
 Particulates
 Uranium and thorium released
CONSERVING GEOLOGIC
RESOURCES
How can we reduce?

Recycling

Aluminum must be extracted from bauxite by electrolysis.

Recycling waste aluminum consumes one-twentieth the energy
of extraction from raw ore.


Nearly two-thirds of all aluminum beverage cans in US are recycled.
Saves 90-95% of energy required to make aluminum cans from
bauxite
Other metals commonly recycled:

Platinum, gold, copper, lead, iron, steel.
Reduction is best or find
alternatives
 Reduce
 Reuse
 Recycle
Coal Economic advantages
 Abundant
so lower cost
 More electrical appliances need
electricity
 Technology is available
Proven-In-Place Coal Reserves
North America, China and
Russia have 50% of coal
resources
Coal formation
 Peat…decaying
plants in a bog
 Lignate-Over 1 million years of
pressure and heat can form(40%
C)
 Subituminous (100 million yrs…4060% C)
 Bituminous (over 100 million
yrs…60-80% C)
 Anthracite
98% C
(over 300 million yrs…80-
Coal Obtained

Coal is a sedimentary rock therefore forms in
bands or layers. It can be strip minded or
tunneled. The material above the vein is
called “overburden”
 High particulates
 Since we dig it can hit the water table where
water lowers its pH due to coal dust.

Black Lung Disease Inflammation and fibrosis caused
by accumulation of coal dust in
the lungs or airways.
Coal Transport
 Crush
it and sort it
 Wash it so heavier impurities fall out
 Ship with rail or barge
 Ship in a “slurry” of water and crushed
rock through pipelines.
Uses of coal
Electricity=90%
Steel mills use Bituminous coal
in airtight ovens to form pure
carbon called COKE=7%
 Coke is used with iron to make steel.
 2% other industry processes…cement
industries
 1% home heating
Air Pollution
 Coal
burning releases radioactivity and
toxic metals into the atmosphere.

Coal combustion is responsible for 25% of all
atmospheric mercury pollution in the US.
 Coal

contains up to 10% sulfur by weight.
Unless removed by washing or flue-gas
scrubbing, sulfur is released and oxidizes to
sulfur dioxide or sulfate
Coal Gasification
Heat
coal in a large reactor with
oxygen and steam. Impurities
are removed and gases react
with hydrogen to make methane
gas.
Gas must be used as it is
produced
Coal:Balancing Needs?