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Mining of natural resources from the earth…..

Mining of natural resources from the earth…. See Chapter 16, Living in the Environment, G.T. Miller. Gold Mine http://www.rainforestweb.org/Rainforest_Destruction/Mining/. What else do we mine out of the ground?. Minerals, rocks (ex. limestone, granite)

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Mining of natural resources from the earth…..

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  1. Mining of natural resources from the earth….. See Chapter 16, Living in the Environment, G.T. Miller Gold Mine http://www.rainforestweb.org/Rainforest_Destruction/Mining/

  2. What else do we mine out of the ground? • Minerals, rocks (ex. limestone, granite) • Salt, clay, phosphates, sand, soil, bauxite (Al ore), copper • Coal, oil, natural gas, U • Renewable or nonrenewable?

  3. How do we know where to mine? • Exploratory Wells Aerial photos • Satellite images • Radiation monitoring • Magnetometer • Seismic surveys (use explosives, detect shock waves) • Chemical analysis of rock and water

  4. Depending on where the resource is… • http://www.uky.edu/KGS/coal/coal_mining.htm

  5. Surface mining Indiana Illinois • Most mining in U.S. • “Overburden” is stripped away • Wastes are “spoils” http://www.in.gov/dnr/reclamation/protect_resources/bats/surface_mining.html http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/servs/pubs/geobits-pub/geobit12/gb12b.htm

  6. Strip Mining “Since the mid-1970s, strip-miners in Montana, as well as in other states, are required by law to remove overburden in an orderly manner, to refill the pits after mining the coal, restoring the overburden as nearly as possible to its original condition, and to replant it with the original types of vegetation. "The art and science of mine reclamation are now so highly developed," say geologists David Alt and Donald Hyndman, "that the recently worked sites are visible only to a knowing and practiced eye."1Some of the lignite mined here at Colstrip is used to generate electricity at the plant in the upper center. The rest is shipped to coal-fired generators in other parts of the country, via 100-car "unit" trains.” http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=1567

  7. Mountain top removal

  8. Subsurface mining What’s good about subsurface mining? What’s bad about it? • Kentucky coal mine: longwall mining More pixs: http://66.113.204.26/mining/coal/room_pill.htm

  9. Heap leaching • At Wind Mountain http://www.nbmg.unr.edu/slides/mmo/24.htm GOHERE>>>> http://serc.carleton.edu/research_education/nativelands/ftbelknap/environmental.html

  10. Why do these problems persist? • Public Land in US is cheap! U.S. General Mining Law of 1872… • Demand by American consumers is high • Government subsidies

  11. What can we do? • Reduce consumption • Reuse stuff • Recycle • Enforce environmental protection • Look for substitutes • Biomining (use bacteria to “grab” the metal) • Mining seawater (high cost, who owns resource?) • Nanotechnologies (research to build at atomic & molecular level)

  12. Homework: Research the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. Write a short essay reconciling the Mining Act with the practice of mountain top removal. What loopholes or provisions are in the act that make mountain top mining legal?

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