Factors Affecting Mine Viability Flashcards
What is the purity of an ore?
How much of the mineral/ metal is contained within the rock
What makes a ore high grade?
One which has lots of minerals trapped inside it and makes it note profitable to mine
What are the problems with a low purity?
- More rock has to be mined to get needed mineral
- More watse/ spoil
- More energy will be used to process the rock- costly
- More pollution is generated so worse impact on environment
What is a natural resource
A useful and valuable natural material
What is an ore?
A rock containing a valuable metal that is economic to mine
What is an ore deposit?
An accumulation of metal that may be dconomic to mine
What is the spoil?
Waste product
What is the equation for concentration factor?
Concentration of metal ore / average crustal abundance
What is the cut-off grade
Minimum amount of the metal to make it economically viable to mine
How does demnad affect cut-off
More demand = lower cutoff
How does abundance affect cutoff
Scarce metals will have a low cutoff
How does size of deposit affect cutoff
Smaller deposits will have a higher cutoff
How will cost of extraction affect cutoff
If its costly to mine the cutoff grade will be high
What is the cutoff equation
Average crustal abundance x minimjm concentration factor
How does chemical form affect mining?
If a mineral is found in a specific form the metal might not be able to be extracted from rock
