GPHY 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 29: Placer Mining, Iron Sulfide, Aluminium Smelting
19 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Oil and gas and mining today; mining. Major water users: require significant supply to process raw materials. Often accompanied by water quality degradation and pollution. May be major consumers in arid regions. Some industries require water resource development (aluminium smelting, hydroelectricity) Metals: found in various rock types (gold, copper, nickel, sometimes in gravel deposits (placer-gold) Salts: usually found in sedimentary strata that are relatively concentrated (e. g. potash) Use of water in aggregates: sorting and extraction. Metal chemistry is quite variable but often falls into one of several classes: native minerals e. g. diamonds, sulphides, oxides, arsenides. Typical concentration of metals in ore body <5%, and increasingly mines are operating: precious metals (gold, silver) may have grades of g/tonne with grades of <1% Native minerals lower hydrochemical risk: washing crushed ore: some minerals like diamonds and placer gold can be extracted from waste by.
