Key Points
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The minerals industry involves producers, consumers and Transnational companies
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Mining and quarrying can generate a range of environmental, economic and social problems.
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Landscapes scarred by mining can be restored and even improved.
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As mineral deposits are exhausted in some areas, new deposits are developed elsewhere.
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New technology is a vital part of opening up new resources.
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High prices encourage exploitation of remote areas.
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Mineral extraction is important to the economies of many ELDCs.
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Mining can bring economic and social benefits to an area.
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The anticipated benefits are not always realised.
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TNCs are very important in world mineral production.
Types of Minerals
Metals: e.g. gold, silver, iron. Found in ores (metal
–bearing rocks) in the earth’s crust. Different rocks have different percentages of metal content.
The cut-off grade is the lowest concentration of ore necessary to make the ore worth mining. Cut-off grades may change if the value of the metal rises or falls, or if new technology makes production more efficient.
Industrial Minerals: such as lime, soda ash. Usually found near or just below the surface. Exploited on a large scale.
Construction Minerals: e.g. limestone, sand and gravel. Highest volume of demand is for these, 22 billion tonnes were mined world-wide in 1995. It takes 200 000 tonnes of aggregate to build 1 km of motorway.
Energy Minerals: Coal, oil, natural gas and uranium.
PRODUCERS AND CONSUMERS.
The main users of minerals are The USA, Western Europe and Japan. The main producers are EMDCs such as the USA, South Africa, Australia and
Russia; and some ELDCs such Zambia (copper) and Jamaica (bauxite).
Consumers are mostly interested in a cheap, reliable supply of raw materials.
What do the producers want? Is it the same for both types of producer?

MINERALS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Methods of Extraction :
Quarrying at or near the surface, used for sandstone, aggregates, limestone and chalk..
Open Cast mining
– coal, bauxite.Removal of shallow surface layer, then mineral is quarried out.
Mining Underground – coal and salt.
Dredging – removal of material from sea, lakes or rivers to extract minerals such as sand and gravel, tin and gold.
Study pictures of mining operations and fill in the following table.
SOME ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS LINKED WITH QUARRYING AND
MINING
Problems Underground Quarrying Open Cast Dredging
Subsidence
Water Pollution
Air Pollution
Noise
Habitat destruction
Spoil heaps
Visual intrusion
Dereliction
KEY
Major problem
Potential problem
Not a problem
Which form of extraction is most damaging? Which is least damaging?
WASTE AND POLLUTION
Mining operations create waste and pollution. For example in areas such as
New Guinea waste from gold and copper mines has been dumped on spoil tips and heavy metals have been washed into the rivers. Smelting ores at high temperatures leads to sulphur dioxide polluting the atmosphere as in many parts of Eastern Europe, particularly Hungary and Poland.
EFFECTS OF INCREASING DEMAND FOR A LIMITED SUPPLY OF
MINERAL RESOURCES:
Extraction of minerals from under the sea.
Spread of mineral exploitation to remote and hostile areas such as Norilsk in
Siberia.