MINERALS AND MINING
CHAPTER 23
Terms you must know:
1. rock
2. mineral
3. mining
4. metal
5. ore
6. alloy
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
smelting
tailings
overburden
acid mine drainage.
leachate
reclamation
13. Surface Mining Control
and Reclamation Act
(1977)
14. General Mining Act of
1872
Short Answer
1. Read Mining for …..Cell Phones?
a. What does your cell phone have to do with the conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
b. What element is at the center of the recent conflict? What chemical properties make this
element so valuable?
c. What was done globally to reduce the conflicts in the Congo?
2. Flashback….How does the rock cycle create new rock?
3. Look at Figure 23.1 What minerals are use in
a. glasses
c. lightbulb
e. laptop
b. cosmetics
d. wall paint
f. food
4. What material is used to extract gold from ore?
5. What is used to extract copper?
6. Why are tailings dangerous to the environment?
7. Look at Figure 23.3. Give the country and use for each metal/nonmetal below:
a. silver
c. lead
e. platinum
b. titanium
d. aluminum
f. copper
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
Where did the phrase “blood diamonds” come from?
Flashback…. Mining methods
a. Explain the process of strip mining, subsurface mining , open pit and mountain top removal.
b. What are the environmental impacts of strip mining?
c. What are the human risks associated with subsurface mining?
d. What are the environmental impacts associated with subsurface mining?
e. What are the environmental impacts associated with open pit mining?
f. What’s special about the Berkeley Pit?
g. What are the environmental impacts of mountaintop removal?
What is placer mining?
What are the environmental impacts of placer mining?
How did the Clean Air Act amendments in 1990 increase mountaintop mining?
What is solution mining (in-situ recovery)?
Explain why reclamation efforts after mining frequently fail to effectively restore natural communities.
Include reference to both soil and vegetation in your answer.
Read The Science behind the Story onpage656. What method is being used to clean up acid drainage and
recover excels metals at the same time?
List five factors that can influence how long global supplies of a given mineral will last, and explain how
each might increase or decrease the time span the mineral will be available to us.
Name three types of metals that we currently recycle, and identify the products or materials that are
recycled to recover these metals.