O: You will be able to explain
how minerals are formed and
mined.
Do Now: How do you think
minerals are formed?
• Minerals form in a variety of environments
in the Earth’s crust.
• Each of these environments has a
different set of physical and chemical
conditions.
• The environment in which a mineral forms
determines the mineral’s properties.
• Geologists use the term ore to describe a
mineral deposit large enough and pure
enough to be mined for profit.
• Rocks and minerals are removed from the
ground by one of two methods—surface
mining or subsurface mining.
Open-Pit Mining
• Minerals are mined from the surface.
• They go layer by layer in a stair like pattern.
• Subsurface mining methods are used when
mineral deposits are located too deep within the
Earth to be surface mined.
• Subsurface mining often requires that
passageways be dug into the Earth to reach the
ore.
Mining Problems
• Mining can cause pollution.
• It can also damage the land.
• It can disturb natural habitats of plants and
animals native to the area.
Possible Solutions
• Reducing the amount of minerals we
consume.
• Reclamation is returning the land to the
state it was before they mined it.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mineral
Uses
Copper
electrical wire, plumbing, coins
Diamond jewelry, cutting tools
Galena
batteries, ammunition
Gibbsite
cans, foil, appliances,
Gold
jewelry, computers, spacecraft
Gypsum wallboards, plaster,
Halite
nutrition, highway de-icer
Quartz glass, computer chips
Silver photography, electronics products
Sphalerite jet aircraft, spacecraft
Homework
• 1. Where do minerals come from?
• 2. What are the two mining methods used
to extract ore?
• 3. How does reclamation help the land?