History of Mineral Usage

1. History of Mineral Usage • What were some of the first resources used? • 1. Water • 2. Salt (the mineral Halite) • 3. Rock that could be shaped for making tools for hunting and gathering

2. Is there a difference between Resources & Minerals? • Minerals are naturally occurring solid chemical compounds with definite chemical compositions and characteristic crystal structures. • Mineral resources can be defined as non-living, naturally occurring substances that are useful to us, whether organic or inorganic in origin

3. What were the first metals used by civilization? • Gold and copper were used before 15,000 B.P. • WHY? • Because they are found in their native state! • And what does that mean?

4. Metals of Antiquity • What are the metals of antiquity • Gold, Copper, Silver • Mercury, Lead • Tin and Antimony

5. 11,000 B.P. • People began to fire clay to make pottery • pottery represents the first synthesis from minerals • This ultimately led to the development of the ceramic arts: brick making, glazing, pigmented paints and glass making by 5500 B.P.

6. 6000 B.P. • We had learned how to extract Cu from certain kinds of minerals • Within a 1000 years of this, Ag, Sn, Pb, Zn and other metals were also being extracted • Brass, Bronze, Pewter

7. How did we discover Tin? • Probably by accident! • 1. Copper minerals are impure, and when they were smelted, unintentional alloys were made with the impurities (tin sulfide for example). • 2. Thus, this ended the Copper Age and ushered in the Bronze Age • 3. Cold working of metals

8. The Tin Trade • Where did people find the tin? • 1. Italy, Bohemia, Saxony and possibly Nigeria • 2. First instance of foreign dependence for natural resources for many nations.

9. Advent of Iron • What was our first source of iron? • Meteorites • How do we know? • Composition of the iron

10. Terrestrial Iron • The first working of iron began around 3300 B.P. • 1. It was extracted probably by accident while perhaps trying to refine Copper. • 2. The iron ore (oxides) were heated in a hot charcoal fire. The iron was slowly reduced by the carbon, making CO2 and Fe.

11. Iron at the time of the Roman Empire • Iron was used for nails, hinges, bolts, keys , chains, and weapons!

12. The Dark Ages • When did the Dark Ages begin? • At the end of the Roman Empire • End? • Emergence began about 800 A.D., which coincided with the discovery and development of Au and Ag mineral deposits in S. Germany.

13. Global Exploration • The search for Gold • Spain grew rich with the discovery of Au in the New World • Treaty of Tordesilla • Why Brazilians speak Portuguese

14. Volume of Gold • What is the volume of all the gold taken from South America by Spain during the period 1500 to 1660? • 181 metric tons • Answer is 9.378 cubic meters

15. Value of this gold • What would be the value of 181 metric Tons of Au in today’s $ • Value of Au on 4/14/09 was $892/oz • Answer: There about about 31 g in an ounce • 181,000,000g x 1/31 x $892 = • $5.21 x 109

16. Alchemy • How do we make Gold from the Base Metals? • Answer: we don’t, however our ancestors tried • They believed that the sun and planets and moon were responsible for the formation and concentration of ‘useful’ metals. Each planet developed its own special metal and gave the metal its own rare and peculiar characteristics.

17. Alchemy cont’d • What would the sun influence? • The formation of gold of course! • Thus people looked for gold where the sun’s rays were most intense. (So why would we look for gold in the north?)

18. And some more alchemy • What would the moon influence? • Silver! By the light of the silvery moon • And what about the planet Mercury • This planet named after the fast-moving messenger of the gods gave us quicksilver, or the element mercury

19. Iron and the Industrial Revolution • When did iron become really useful? • About 1340 A.D., when the blast furnace was first invented • This permitted iron workers to obtain temperatures high enough to melt iron, and thus be able to pour into cast iron objects

20. The first “Energy Crisis” • The growing demand for iron meant an insatiable appetite for wood • British Admiralty became alarmed! • Royal Edict: mid-sixteenth century

21. Coal to Make Coke • Early 1700’s, a blast furnace was invented that could use coke made from coal • This was the start of the Industrial Revolution • each metric ton of pig iron from pellets containing 60% iron requires about 250 kg of limestone and 1 metric T of coking coal.

22. The next breakthrough • What was the next breakthrough • Steel, which is much stronger and more workable • From 1750 onwards, many more elements were discovered • Discovery of Al was 1827, for example

23. Ferro-Alloy Metals • What are the metals that are used in steel to make them stronger, more malleable, more heat resistant, rust-resistant etc.? • Cr, V, Ni, Co, Mo, W

24. Cobalt • What are the uses of Co? • 1. Brilliant blue coloring in glass and ceramics • 2. This metal wasn’t separated from O until 1780 • 3. Its name comes from the old German Miners

25. Tungston • What are the uses of W? • 1. First used in steel in 1855: armored plating: now used for WC, light bulbs • 2. This metal wasn’t separated from O until 1781 • 3. Its name comes from the Swedish Words: tung, meaning heavy and sten, stone

26. Aircraft • The advent of aircraft brought the need for lightweight strong metals: Al and Ti • These metals require a lot of energy to separate them from O

27. Metals for the 21st Century • Germanium • Gallium • Indium • Beryllium