Abundance And Extraction Of MEtals
Abundance and Extraction of Metals
1. a Mineral - A mineral is a naturally occurring inorganic solid, with a definite chemical composition, and an ordered atomic arrangement.
b Ore - Deposit in the Earth of valuable metals contained in minerals.
c Economic Natural Resource Deposit - This is a natural deposit of something that is economically viable to mine, refine and sell. Hence the deposit must be big enough to last for a large period of time, so that it will make enough money for the time and effort to be worth it.
d Non-economic Natural Resource Deposit - This is a natural deposit that is not economically viable to mine, refine and sell. 1 a The cost to buy a metal will be affected by how abundant the metal is. The more abundant a metal is, the less it will cost. This is because less time and money will be needed to find economically viable deposits of the metal. Example: The cost of Copper has increased due to a decline in availability.
b The cost of production of a metal, which includes mining the ore and then refining it to obtain the final product, will affect the price of the metal, because the more costly it is to turn the ore into a metal, the more the metal will cost. 1 Ores are classified as non-renewable resources as they take a very long time to form. Ores cannot be created at the rate at which they are used and the demand that is there for them. At the current rate that we use metals, they will eventually run out.
2 a Extraction Of Copper From Chalcopyrite
Step 1: Crushing and grinding the mined ore.
The ore is put into a crusher, which crushes it into pebbles less than 1cm in size. These are then placed in a ball mill where they are ground into a powder.
Step 2: Concentration
The chalcopyrite mineral and the gangue of silicate minerals are separated by froth flotation (where crushed ores are placed in a chemical bath that has bubbles streaming from top to bottom, which the minerals attach to). The
1. a Mineral - A mineral is a naturally occurring inorganic solid, with a definite chemical composition, and an ordered atomic arrangement.
b Ore - Deposit in the Earth of valuable metals contained in minerals.
c Economic Natural Resource Deposit - This is a natural deposit of something that is economically viable to mine, refine and sell. Hence the deposit must be big enough to last for a large period of time, so that it will make enough money for the time and effort to be worth it.
d Non-economic Natural Resource Deposit - This is a natural deposit that is not economically viable to mine, refine and sell. 1 a The cost to buy a metal will be affected by how abundant the metal is. The more abundant a metal is, the less it will cost. This is because less time and money will be needed to find economically viable deposits of the metal. Example: The cost of Copper has increased due to a decline in availability.
b The cost of production of a metal, which includes mining the ore and then refining it to obtain the final product, will affect the price of the metal, because the more costly it is to turn the ore into a metal, the more the metal will cost. 1 Ores are classified as non-renewable resources as they take a very long time to form. Ores cannot be created at the rate at which they are used and the demand that is there for them. At the current rate that we use metals, they will eventually run out.
2 a Extraction Of Copper From Chalcopyrite
Step 1: Crushing and grinding the mined ore.
The ore is put into a crusher, which crushes it into pebbles less than 1cm in size. These are then placed in a ball mill where they are ground into a powder.
Step 2: Concentration
The chalcopyrite mineral and the gangue of silicate minerals are separated by froth flotation (where crushed ores are placed in a chemical bath that has bubbles streaming from top to bottom, which the minerals attach to). The