Birdseed Mining Activity
Objective: This activity will illustrate how mining works. (Including which minerals
are more profitable to mine for, importance of clean, environmentally conscious
mining methods and reclamation)
Materials:
Wild Bird Food
Shallow pans
Small Beads
Medium Beads
Instructions:
1. Working as groups, gather materials and pour your "undiscovered resources"
into their proper location (shallow pan).
2. The area you will be mining is assumed to have several metal ores to be found
based on its "known" geology. (Hint: words in italics in this handout are key terms you may want look up and make sure you KNOW the definitions of them.)
3. The minerals in your sample are represented thusly:
Gold beads = gold
Silver/light blue = silver
Dark blue = copper
Sunflower seeds = iron
All other seeds = waste
White beads = ??? (Keep them aside though!)
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.
By the way, neatness counts! You may be assigned a “fine” to cover
environmental damages!
5. Record the number of beads "mined" in the appropriate places. Fill in
reclamation fees and your damage fines (assessed by group).
6. Clean up the activity. Return materials. Begin INDIVIDUALLY answering
questions, and wrap it up for homework. You'll want to refer to your book.
Questions:
1. Which kind of mining is most appropriate for this type of endeavor? (hint: see
Chapter 16) Describe why at least two other types of mining are not appropriate
in this case. (That’s a total of three types you need to cover!)
2. What mineral resources are extracted locally? How are they extracted?
(Provide a FULL description of the process!) 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 (as well as providing the site you found data to support
your answer).
4. Locate current market prices for the metals you've mined. Make sure the
quotes you find for prices are in US $ and are for the correct units (ounces or tons,
depending) of the metal. (Make sure your source for data is credible and
current, not old or a future estimate!)
Number of beads
X Represented
units
X Price
___ gold
100 ounces
$ 5.00
___ lt. blue
100 ounces
$4.00
___ dk. Blue
1 ton
$3.00
___ sunflower
seeds
1 ton
$2.00
All other seeds
Waste
$0.00
=
Value
Total product value = __________
Cost of environmental damage fines = -__________
SUBTOTAL = __________
____ (# white beads) x$100.00 each (price for reclamation) = -__________
GRAND TOTAL = _____________
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 (unaccounted for) subsidies
were removed from the pricing? (see Chapter 16)
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 (in the US or abroad).
*Activity adapted from "Birdseed Mining" found on the Geological Society of America
website at: http://www.geosociety.org/educate/resources.htm#age