Resource Security - Energy

Question 1

Acid rain - Formation

Answer 1

• Burning fossil fuels + exhaust fumes from motor vechiles causes the emission of pollutants e.g. sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere.
• These react with precipitation to form sulphuric acid, nitric acid, and ammonia compounds, creating acid rain.

Question 2

Acid rain - Environmental impacts

Answer 2

• Damages + kills trees, especially conifers
• Damages buildings + monuments, especially those made of limestone
• Leaches toxic metals from soils, which can accumulate in & pollute rivers/lakes
• Can cause respiratory problems e.g. bronchitis
• Kills fish as acidifies lakes, damaging ecosystems

Question 3

Acid rain - Reducing impacts

Answer 3

• Catalytic converters in cars reduce emissions of nitrous oxides (NOx)
• Energy conservation / using renewable or nuclear instead > less pollutant emissions > less acid rain
• Adding lime to lakes reduces their acidity (but only short term solution) - but has worked in Norway + Sweden
• Removing suplhur before / after coal is burnt, using ‘
  flue gas desulphurisation or ‘scrubbers’

Question 4

Greenhouse effect - Formation

Answer 4

• Greenhouse gases trap insolation from sun inside the tropopause
• As it can’t escape, it is re-radiated towards earth > rise in global temperatures

Question 5

Greenhouse effect - Environmental impacts

Answer 5

• Higher global temp > rising sea levels, melting of polar land ice
• Can also cause extreme weather events (e.g. floods, cyclones) & change ecosystems.

Question 6

Nuclear waste management - Concerns

Answer 6

• Nuclear accidents
• Radioactive waste is very hard to dispose of
• Health & safety, particularly cancer
• Contamination of water

Question 7

Athabasca Tar Sands - Background

Answer 7

• Athabasca, North-Eastern Alberta, Canada
• Reserve stretches over area as large of England
• Used to be boreal forest, now

Question 8

Exploitation

Answer 8

The action of using natural resources to the fullest or for the most profitable use.

Question 9

Exploration

Answer 9

The process of searching an area with the intention of finding or mapping natural resources

Question 10

Stock resources

Answer 10

Non-renewable resources which can be permanently expended (i.e. used up) e.g. oil, natural gas. Their quantity is typically expressed in absolute amounts rather than rates.

Question 11

Flow resources

Answer 11

Renewable resources which can be replaced e.g. fresh water, timber. Their quantity is typically expressed in terms of the annual rates at which they are generated.

Question 12

Critical flow resources

Answer 12

Sustainable energy resources which may be depleted by overuse, for example if they are exploited at a faster rate than they are replaced e.g. forests, other biomass. They therefore require prudent management.

Question 13

Finite

Answer 13

Limited in quantity. E.g. water since only 1% of freshwater is easily available for human use.

Question 14

Non-critical flow resources

Answer 14

‘Everlasting’ resources e.g. solar power, tides, waves, wind

Question 15

Reserves

Answer 15

The part of a resource that is available for use under existing economic and political conditions, with available technology.

Question 16

Resource

Answer 16

Includes all deposits, whether undiscovered, discovered, or discovered but unviable economically, etc.

Question 17

Measured reserve

Answer 17

• The part of a mineral resource for which quantity, quality, densities, and physical characteristics are so well established they can be estimated with confidence.
• Quantity is calculated from dimensions revealed in outcrops, workings, and drill holes
• Grade and quality are calculated from detailed sampling of the deposit

Question 18

Proven reserve

Answer 18

• Economically mineable part of a measured reserve
• This is demonstrated by it having a 90% chance of being recoverable according to at least a preliminary feasibility study

Question 19

Indicated reserve

Answer 19

• The part of a mineral resource for which quantity, quality, densities, and physical characteristics can be estimated with a level of confidence sufficient to allow further evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit.
• Quantity estimated using similar processes to that for a proven reserve, but inspection sites are further apart, which is why there is a lower level of confidence that the resource is continuously viable

Question 20

Probable reserve

Answer 20

• Economically mineable part of an indicated reserve
• Have a lesser degree of confidence surrounding them than proven reserves, however are still sufficiently supported by engineering information and legal factors to justify further major expenditure on development

Question 21

Inferred resource

Answer 21

• The part of a mineral resource for which quantity, quality, densities, and physical characteristics can only be estimated on the basis of limited geological sampling
• Estimates for quantity can be made based on assumed continuity of deposit, however this has not been verified by continuous samples, so will often over-estimate.

Question 22

Possible resource

Answer 22

• A resource which has an even lower degree of confidence surrounding its existence and potential to become economically viable than inferred resources.

Question 23

Speculative resources

Answer 23

• Undiscovered materials which could possibly exist in known types of deposits (e.g. because of the geology of these areas), but where no previous discoveries have been made.

Question 24

Hypothetical resources

Answer 24

• Undiscovered materials expected to exist in known mining condition under known geological conditions.

Question 25

Possible reserve

Answer 25

• Economically mineable part of an inferred reserve

- Based only on reasonable extrapolations, assumptions, and interpretations of existing reserves