16

The Earth and Its Mineral

Resources

Chapter Outline

The Earth’s Mineral Riches

Minerals and Ores

Mineral Resources and Society

Who Consumes the World’s Minerals?

Import Reliance

Will There Be Enough?

Environmental Impacts of Mineral Exploitation: A Brief Overview

Supplying Mineral Needs Sustainably

Creating a Sustainable System of Mineral Production

Conservation

Expanding Reserves

Rising Prices, Rising Supplies

Technological Advances Expand Reserves

Factors That Reduce Supplies

Minerals from the Sea

Finding Substitutes

Personal Actions

Key Terms

minerals ores nonfuel minerals

metal-yielding minerals industrial minerals construction minerals

igneous rocks sedimentary rocks metamorphic rocks

infrastructure strategic minerals smelting

open pit mines hydraulic mining heap leaching

recycling residence time depletion allowance

reserves manganese nodules

Objectives

1. Classify the earth’s nonfuel minerals.

2. List the three major classes or rocks.

3. Discuss which countries use most of the mineral resources globally.

4. Define the terms: “strategic minerals,” “smelting,” “open pit mines,” “hydraulic mining,” and “heap leaching.”

5. Discuss the environmental problems caused by mining for minerals.

6. Summarize the steps necessary to create a sustainable system of mineral production.

7. Define the following terms: “recycling,” “residence time,” and “reserves.”

8. Discuss the environmental concerns associated with the General Mining Act of 1872.

9. Discuss what personal actions can be taken to preserve the earth’s minerals.

Lecture Outline

The Earth’s Mineral Riches - The earth started as a molten mass, but the surface cooled, forming the crust.

A. Minerals and Ores

1. Geological processes often concentrate minerals in igneous rocks.

2. An ore is a mineral deposit that can be economically mined or refined.

B. Mineral Resources and Society

1. Minerals are extremely important in our lives. Metals derived from ores are used in many products. Industrial minerals are used in fertilizers and concrete.

2. More than 100 nonfuel minerals are traded in the world market.

3. Among the most important are iron, aluminum, and copper.

C. Who Consumes the World’s Minerals?

1. The developed nations consume a disproportionately large amount of the minerals marketed today.

D. Import Reliance

1. Large developed nations heavily depend on mineral imports; this dependence creates vulnerability because of political and economic instability of the exporting nations.

E. Will There Be Enough?

1. Concerns about long-term supplies of important minerals and rates of use are legitimate.

2. Approximately 18 minerals will be 80% depleted by or before 2040.

F. Environmental Impacts of Mineral Exploitation: A Brief Overview

1. Ore extraction by open pit or hydraulic mining has severe environmental consequences including ecosystem destruction, aquatic deterioration from acid drainage, sedimentation, and air pollution.

2. Smelting, heap leaching, and other ore processing operations can have devastating environmental effects over vast areas.

Supplying Mineral Needs Sustainably

A. Creating a Sustainable System of Mineral Production

1. Recycling

a. Recycling can dramatically slow our consumption of virgin ores by increasing a mineral's residence time.

b. Since recycling can never reach 100% for any mineral it cannot be the solution to mineral depletion.

2. Conservation

a. Conservation can extend the lifetimes of many valuable mineral supplies.

3. Promoting Conservation and Recycling

a. Changes in legislation and tax incentives are needed to promote better use of world mineral resources.

4. Restoration and Environmental Protection

a. Efforts must be made not only to protect the environment from current mining impacts, but also to restore those areas already heavily impacted.

Expanding Reserves - Future demand cannot be completely satisfied by recycling and conservation efforts. Some new minerals will need to be mined.

A. Rising Prices, Rising Supplies

1. Short-term expansion is feasible, whereas long-term expansion is problematic.

We can expand supplies by recovering less accessible reserves as price increases. The law of supply and demand indicates that rising prices makes it economically feasible to search for more minerals.

In the long run, though, increased demand and diminishing supply must ultimately deplete a nonrenewable mineral resource.

B. Technological Advances Expand Reserves

1. While helpful in increasing extraction efficiency, technological advances cannot make mineral resources infinite in supply.

C. Factors That Reduce Supplies

1. Many factors, including energy and environmental constraints, can inhibit production and expansion of mineral reserves.

D. Minerals From Outer Space and the Sea

1. Untapped mineral deposits await us in outer space, Antarctica, and the oceans - but only with enormous environmental damage, cost, effort, and risk.

Finding Substitutes

A. While substitutes undoubtedly can be found for some depleted minerals, they may themselves be limited; and, in any case, recycling and conserving are preferable to reliance on technological fixes.

Personal Actions

A. Careful and reduced buying, adopting a low-impact lifestyle, and supporting legislation aimed at increasing conservation and recycling will help initiate society-wide changes necessary to slow mineral depletion

Suggestions for Presenting the Chapter

Ÿ A fieldtrip to a local mining sight, if available, is a good way to explore the concepts in this chapter.

Ÿ Instructors should stress that conservation and recycling are effective personal, societal, and global sustainable activities that conserve the earth and its minerals.

Ÿ Instructors should emphasize the individual responsibility and personal impact involved with conservation and recycling. The importance of careful and reduced buying and the adoption of a low-impact lifestyle are pertinent issues associated with this chapter.