Birdseed Mining Activity
Purpose Mining is a complex process in which relatively small amounts of valuable
or useful mineral resources (metals/ores, liquids, gases) are extracted from the
earth’s crust. This activity will illustrate how this “needle in a haystack” process
works.
Objective: Students will be able to experience “hands-on” the difficulty that
minerals face in locating mineral deposits. With economics – a less valuable
commodity may be more profitable because it is more abundant. Clean,
environmentally responsible mining is important for all mining operations to
perform and to pay for reclamation work.
Materials: shallow pan, worksheet, bird seed, beads, “undiscovered resources”
Procedures:
1. Work in groups of 3-4. Gather materials and pour your “undiscovered
resources” into shallow pan.
2. The area you will be mining is assumed to have several metal ores to be
found based on its “known” geology.
3. The minerals in your sample are represented below:
a. Gold beads = gold
b. Silver/light blue = silver
c. Dark blue = copper
d. Sunflower seeds = iron
e. All other seeds = waste
f. While beads = The white beads represent incentives or rebates that
will be deducted from the cost of Reclamation. In the mining world,
these might represent the refund of a portion of a reclamation bond as
a result of concurrent reclamation or a cost reduction for some type of
environmental mitigation service performed by the company.
4. You will be given 5 minutes to mine the maximum resources available. This
is to simulate the length of time a mine will be economically viable. Mines
are not often run until all possible ore has been removed, just until
economics dictates.
5. Record the number of beads “mined” in the appropriate places. Fill in
reclamation fees of $1200 and your damage fines (assessed by group)
6. Clean up. Return materials. Begin to answer the questions as a group. You
will need to refer to your text or the Internet for assistance. You may want to
type your answers.
Analysis and Conclusion
1. Which kind of mining is most appropriate for this type of endeavor?
(reference ch14 for assistance) Describe the basic process for this type of
mining.
2. What mineral resources are extracted locally – FL? Describe how they are
extracted. What kinds of restoration are done on sites once the minerals
have been extracted?
3. Globally, where would this sort of location be found (where these ore
resources might be found all in the same spot), if anywhere? Explain how
you came to your answer, site where you found the data to support your
answer)
4. Locate current market prices for the metals you’ve mined. Make sure the
quotes you find for the prices are in US $ and are for the correct units
(ounces or tons) of the metal.
5. Based on your calculations, which mineral in this activity would you prefer
seeking? Is this the one with the highest unit price? How might your opinion
change if impact fees were added and possible subsidies were removed from
pricing?
6. Describe 3 possible impacts on the environment of your mining site.
Associated with each, describe a way to counteract the damage.
7. Should we halt mining in the face of environmental damage it causes?
Identify 3 impacts of severely restricting the mining industry.
8. Should impact fees be assessed on minerals or metals that US companies
mine for in other countries? What kind of impact could that have on
economics and the market?
Birdseed Mining Spreadsheet
GOLD BEAD: Each gold bead = 10 oz. of gold ($280/oz)
Number of beads _______ x 10 oz. = ______ x $_____ = ______price value
SILVER BEAD: Each silver bead = 10 oz. of silver ($5.70/oz)
Number of beads ______ x 10 oz. = _______ x $_______ = _______price value
BLUE BEAD: Each blue bead = 100 lbs. of iron (or 2,000 lbs of iron- 1 ton; $23/ton)
Number of beads ________ x 100 lbs. = ________ x $_______ = ________price value
SUNFLOWER SEEDS: Each Sunflower seed = 100 lbs. of copper (or 2,000 lbs of
copper - 1 ton; $0.75/ton)
# of Sunflower seeds _______ x 100 lbs. = _______ x $______ = _______ price value
TOTAL Product Value = _______________________
SUBTRACT cost of Environmental Damage fines ($1,200)= ______________________
SUBTOTAL = _______________________
Number of WHITE beads ________ x $100.00 = _______________________
SUBTRACT reclamation cost from SUBTOTAL = ______________________
GRAND TOTAL = _______________________