Year 7, unit 1
Mixing and separating
Name: .......................................................................... Class: .......................... Date: ......................
Lesson 3: Homogeneous mixtures
Extension worksheet:
Could mining wastes provide useful resources?
Introduction
Mining is the process of obtaining useful minerals from the ground. Tailings are the
materials left over after the valuable part of the ore has been removed. Often in the
process of removing the useful part, some is left behind in the waste.
As the price of minerals increase and mining techniques improve with advancing
technologies, these tailings can be reprocessed to extract the remaining
economically valuable materials. A company that has done this is Kaltails Mining in
Kalgoorlie/Boulder in Western Australia.
There could be other useful minerals in the tailings, which are ignored by the mining
company as they concentrate on the extraction of the most profitable mineral. These
other minerals can cause damage to the environment if left exposed and allowed to
wash into waterways. This has happened in Australia and elsewhere in the past. An
example of this is the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company in Tasmania, which
led to an ecological disaster in the King River.
Task
Carry out ‘desk research’ to investigate the following:
Part A
History of the Mount Lyell Mining Company
‘The brief history of Mt. Lyell’, Queenstown Tasmania website,
http://www.queenstowntasmania.com/Mt_Lyell_Page.php (2013)
‘Final report: Mount Lyell Remediation Research and Demonstration Program’,
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
website, http://www.environment.gov.au/ssd/publications/ssr/126.html (27 March
2011) (see Executive summary – Background)
1. What is the evidence of an ecological disaster in the King River?
2. What caused the ecological disaster in the King River?
Present in your own way, a summary of the cause of the ecological disaster.
Part B
1. Use the following website to identify and compare three different methods of
removing copper from a mixture.
Needham, Stewart and McBride, Patrick 1998, ‘Case study 2: The Big One’,
Groundwork No. 1, Vol. 2,
https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/conenv/envi1128/Groundwork%20website/public
at/gw/grnd998/gcase2.htm (September 1998)
© 2013 Australian Science Innovations. You may copy, distribute and adapt this material free of
charge for non-commercial educational purposes, provided you retain all copyright notices and
acknowledgements.
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Unit 12: Survival
Year 5/6
Name: .......................................................................... Class: .......................... Date: ......................
2. Use the following website to find a short list of advantages of using the
electrowinning method.
‘Copper’, Electrometals Technologies Ltd website,
http://www.electrowinning.com/metal-markets/copper (2013)
Prepare a presentation to a named audience of your choice, such as a local
council, that explains that the use of the electrowinning technology is not harmful
to the environment. Select three from the list of given benefits of the technology
to highlight in your presentation. Consider using digital technologies and tools to
deliver it.
3. Copper can be extracted and formed into sheets that may be used for other
purposes. Report on two uses of copper sheets.
Part C
The phrase ‘One person’s trash is another person’s treasure’ can be a useful idea to
apply to mining practices in Australia.
1. Identify who would be interested in the copper by-product of gold mining at the
Mount Lyell Mining Company. These are the stakeholders.
2. What reasons would each stakeholder have for approving the building of a
copper electrowinning plant? You could draw a diagrammatic representation or
use another method to summarise your findings.
3. Complete the table below by identifying how the various stakeholders might view
copper as the by-product of gold mining at Mt Lyell. Provide reasons to support
that view.
Stakeholder
Viewed as
trash/treasure/toxin
Reasons
Original mining
company
Tailing mining
company
Local residents
© 2013 Australian Science Innovations. You may copy, distribute and adapt this material free of
charge for non-commercial educational purposes, provided you retain all copyright notices and
acknowledgements.
2
Unit 12: Survival
Year 5/6
Name: .......................................................................... Class: .......................... Date: ......................
Fishing industry
Tourism industry
Environmental
groups
© 2013 Australian Science Innovations. You may copy, distribute and adapt this material free of
charge for non-commercial educational purposes, provided you retain all copyright notices and
acknowledgements.
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