How Will We Manage Our
Nonrenewable Mineral
Resources in the Future?
How Do We Find Mineral Resources?






Aerial Photos
Measuring radiation
Magnetometer (Iron)
Core Samples
Seismic Surveys (set
off a bomb and see
how seismic waves
move in the ground)
Chemical analysis of
water and plants
How Are Buried Mineral Deposits
Removed?

Surface Mining (shallow deposits)




Open-Pit Mining: Machines dig holes and remove ores
Dredging: Chain buckets and draglines scrape up
underwater mineral deposits
Area Strip Mining: A giant earth mover strips land creating a
trench which is then filled in with the overburden creating a
wavy series of highly erodible hills of rubble called spoil
banks.
Contour Strip Mining: Used on hilly or mountainous
terrains. Power shovel cuts a series of terrains, overburden
from the terrace above is dumped below
Area Strip Mining
Contour Strip Mining
Open Pit Mining
Dredging


Mountaintop Removal: Uses explosives, massive
shovels and huge machinery called draglines
Subsurface Mining: (Deep minerals) Miners
dig a deep vertical shaft, blast tunnels and
chambers and remove minerals using
machinery



Disturbs less than 1/10 as much land
Leaves much of the resources in the ground
Hazards include cave-ins, explosions, lung
disease
Mountaintop Removal
Subsurface Mining
Some Definitions




Spoil: Rock and soil removed during surface
mining
Gangue: Waste or undesired material in an
ore
Tailings: Waste material removed as
impurities when waste mineral material is
separated from the metal in an ore
Smelting: Melting of ore to refine it
Development of Coal (Anthracite)
How Do We Conserve Our Mineral
Resources?




Recycle
Minimize Waste
Find Substitute Materials (Nanotechnology)
Do Without
Can We Use Nanotechnology to Create
New Materials?




Uses atoms & molecules to create substances (stain resistant
and wrinkle free materials for pants, sunscreens that block UV
light)
Designer molecules that seek out and kill cancer cells
Nanoparticles that provide super thermal insulation
Bathrooms that never need cleaning, and so on
What’s the Catch?



Smaller molecules
become more reactive
and potentially more
toxic
Nanosize particles can
get through the natural
defenses of our body
Little is known about
how nanoparticles
behave in our body