Earth History
GEOL 2110
Stewardship and Sustainability
of
Earth Resources
Terminology and Definitions
Natural Resources – materials, and energy that occur naturally
within the Earth’s spheres. Many are essential for our survival,
while others are used for satisfying our wants.
Biological Resources
• renewable
• recycleable
• reuseable
Wind and Solar
• unlimited
Stuff
Water Resources
• unlimited
• recycleable
• reuseable
Mineral Resources
• non-renewable
• recycleable
• reuseable
“Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs” (1984, United Nations Commission)
Stewardship - “administration, management, control, including responsible use
of resources” (Oxford English Dictionary Online)
Stewardship of Earth Resources
STEWARDSHIP: the individual’s responsibility
to manage his life and property with proper
regard to the rights of others
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1987)
Responsible stewardship of mineral resources demands that we
make sensible and fair choices of where, how, and when to acquire
critical resources we need for today and for the future.
Making these choices also requires that we face some other
inconvenient truths about the earth and our interaction with it.
Inconvenient Truth #1
We Use the Earth
Mineral Resources are Necessary
in our Modern Lives
Smart Phones
Computers
26 different elements
66 different minerals
National Mining Institute, 2005
From the Minerals Education Coalition
Inconvenient Truth #2
If it wasn’t grown, it had to be mined
Inconvenient Truth #3
Everything comes from something, but
something isn’t everywhere
Porphyry Cu deposits in young mountain belts
gone
Porphyry Cu Mine, Bagdad, AZ
Sulfide Flotation Cells
Sulfide Floating
Electroplating Copper
Buried too Deep
Just Buried
Inconvenient Truth #4
Most of the world’s base metal comes from sulfide minerals
Chalcopyrite
CuFeS2
Chalcocite
Cu2S
Pentlandite
(Fe,Ni)9S8
Cinnabar
HgS
Bornite
Cu5FeS4
Sphalerite
ZnS
Molybdenite
MoS2
Galena
PbS
Cobaltite
CoAsS
Separating Metal
from Sulfur
Traditional
Roasting/Smelting
New Tech
Hydrometallurgy
Sudbury, Ontario
Monchegorsk, Russia
The Environmental Challenge
Preventing Acid Rock Drainage (ARD) and
Metals Release
2FeS2(s) + 7O2(g) + 2H2O(l) → 2Fe2+(aq) + 4SO42-(aq) + 4H+(aq)
Inconvenient
Truth #5
The western world
consumes the most,
but mines the least
amount of mineral
resources
Global Cu
Mining
2014 Rest of the
United States AZ,
World
13%
7%
Canada
4%
Zambia & Congo
10%
Australia &
Indonesia
7%
China
9%
Russia & Poland
9%
Data from USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries
UT,NM,NV,MT
Mexico
3%
Transportatio
n
19%
(10% in 2002)
Industrial
Machinery
7%
Building
Construction
43%
Chile
31%
Global Production
= 18.7 million tons
Peru
7%
Cu Markets
2014
Consumer
Products
12%
32% from Recycled Cu
Electrical/
Electronics
19%
COPPER
An Important Metal in a Green Economy
NW Mining Association, 2009
Cu in a Standard Car
with Combustion Engine
43-55 lbs
Cu in a Prius - 80 lbs
Cu in a Volt - 150 lbs
Inconvenient Truth #6
If we don’t mine it here, it will be mined somewhere
else....Often BADLY
PGE –
Platinum
Group
Elements
Pt – Platinum
Pd – Palladium
Os – Osmium
Ru – Ruthenium
Rh – Rhodium
Ir - Iridium
Bushveld Complex
South Africa
Supplying the 70% of the World’s Platinum
Merensky Reef, Amplats Mine, Rustenburg, SA
Merensky Reef, Eastern Bushveld Complex
Pd
Uses
Palladium:
“The Environmental Metal”
The Stillwater Mine (Montana)
Only Precious Metals Mine in the U.S.
(recently owned by Noril’sk Nickel)
Noril’sk, Russia
Cu-Ni-PGE Deposits
Supplies 60% of the World’s Palladium
Sulfide Smelter in Monchegorsk, Russia
In 1998, responsible for 50% of SO2
in the northern hemisphere
A Looming
Stewardship
Question for
Minnesotans
:
When should
we develop this
immense
copper-nickelprecious metal
mineral
resource?
Sulfur Contamination creating the Cu-Ni-PGE
Sulfide Deposits of the Duluth Complex
S
Cu
Ni
S
Co
Pd + Pt + Au
Cu-Ni-PGE
Sulfide
Deposits
of the Duluth
Complex
Current Exploration
Polymet – Northmet
Teck American – Mesaba
Twin Metals MN – Maturi,
Dunka Pit, Birch Lake,
Spruce Rd
Encampment – South
Filson Cr, Serpentine
World Class Ores of the Duluth Complex
Compared to other Magmatic Sulfide Deposits, the Duluth Complex is:
#1
or 2 in contained Copper
#4 in contained PGE
#3 in contained Nickel
Only the Bushveld, Great
Dyke, and Noril’sk contain
more PGE
From Peterson, 2010
World Scale of the Maturi
Deposit
Nokomis
Maturi
Maturi
Maturi
From Peterson, 2010 and DM
press release 12/2012
The Largest UNDEVELOPED Cu-Ni Deposit on Earth
Duluth deposits are perceived as low grade. But compared
to the source of most of the world’s copper - Porphyry
Copper Deposits...
…the Duluth Complex
ores are HIGHER
GRADE with MORE
CONTAINED METAL
than nearly all porphyry
systems.
The largest copper
ore deposits in the
USA are on this
diagram, and the Duluth
Complex ores are much
larger then all of them.
From Peterson, 2010
CONCLUSION:
The base and
precious metal
deposits of the
Duluth Complex
are a World
Class Resource
that will be
mined ….
SOMEDAY
Next Wednesday
Course Review
Prepping for the Final
Return Old Quizzes and Exams
FINAL EXAM – Wednesday, 5/13
2-4 AM, Cina 308