Why mining industry

Therefore, deliberate fine grinding is avoided until just before the coal is burned. Although a miner or explorer, say, 75 years ago might recognize some of the equipment and techniques used today, many important changes have occurred in equipment design and applications. Trucks, shovels, and drills are much larger; electricity and hydraulic drives have replaced compressed air; construction materials are stronger and more durable; equipment may now contain diagnostic computers to anticipate failures; and such equipment usually yields.

Although incremental improvements have driven much of this progress, major contributions have also come from revolutionary developments. Some examples of revolutionary developments in mining are the use of ammonium-nitrate explosives and aluminized-slurry explosives, millisecond delays in blast ignition, the global positioning system GPS in surface-mine operations, rock bolts, multidrill hydraulic jumbos, load-haul-dump units, safety couplers on mine cars, longwall mining, and airborne respirable dust control.

In plants there are radiometric density gauges, closed-circuit television, hydrocyclones, wedge-bar screens, autogenous and semiautogenous grinding mills, wrap-around drives, high-intensity magnetic separators, spirals and Reichert cones, high-tension separators, continuous assay systems, high-pressure roll grinding, computerized modeling and process control, and many more innovations.

The increase in productivity in the past several decades made possible by new technologies has far exceeded the average increase for the U. The goals of the IOF program, namely improving energy efficiency, reducing waste generation, and increasing productivity, present both challenges and opportunities for mining. Exploration normally requires very little energy.

However, some exploration techniques, such as satellite remote sensing, require space flights, which require prodigious amounts of energy. Reducing waste generation suggests that more waste be left underground, and this is already being done to a considerable extent in the underground metal-mining sector by returning tailings mixed with cement underground as fill.

If in-situ mining is considered as a means of reducing waste, the site-specific nature of this method and its potential environmental effects must be taken into account.

Increasing productivity will require increasing output or reducing input, or both. The IOF progam has identified potential areas for improvements in mining. Some enabling tools are already available: sensors, ground-penetrating radar, GPS, and laser measuring techniques.

Investments in research and development by the mineral industry have been smaller than those of other industries for several reasons. Typically, investment in research and development is risky. Furthermore, the mining industry often considers exploration itself as a form of research. Therefore, rather than investing research funds in the development of new technologies, the industry has invested heavily in exploration to find high-grade, large, or other more attractive deposits, which can lead to better positioning in the competitive business enviroment.

Mineral commodities are extracted from nonrenewable resources, which has raised concerns about their long-term availability. Many believe that, as society exploits its favorable existing mineral deposits and is forced to then exploit poorer quality deposits that are more remote and more difficult to process, the real costs and prices of essential mineral commodities will rise.

This could threaten the living standards of future generations and make sustainable development more difficult or impossible. Mineral depletion tends to push up the real prices of mineral commodities over time.

However, innovations and new technologies tend to mitigate this upward pressure by making it easier to find new deposits, enabling the exploitation of entirely new types of deposits, and reducing the costs of mining and processing mineral commodities. With innovations and new technologies more abundant resources can be substituted for less abundant resources. In the long run the availability of mineral commoditie will depend on the outcome of a race between the cost-increasing effects of depletion and the cost-reducing effects of new technologies and other innovations.

In the past century new technologies have won this race, and the real costs of most mineral commodities, despite their cyclic nature, have fallen substantially Barnett and Morse, Real prices, another recognized measure of resource availability, have also fallen for many mineral commodities; although some scholars contend that this favorable trend has recently come to an end see Krautkraemer [] for a survey of the literature in this area.

In any case, there is no guarantee that new technologies will keep the threat of mineral depletion at bay indefinitely. Mining research and development can not only lead to new technologies that reduce production costs. It can also enhance the quality of existing mineral commodities while reducing the environmental impacts of mining them and create entirely new mineral commodities. In the twentieth century, for example, the development of nuclear power created a demand for uranium, and the development of semiconductors created a demand for high-purity germanium and silicon.

Another by-product of investment in research and development is its beneficial effect on education. Research funds flowing to universities support students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and provide opportunities for students to work closely with professors. In a synergistic way research and development funds help ensure that a supply of well-trained scientists and engineers will be available.

The benefits from research and development generally accrue to both consumers and producers, with consumers enjoying most of the benefits over the long run. As both a major consumer and producer of mineral commodities, the United States is particularly likely to benefit greatly from successful research and development in mining tecnologies.

Subsequently, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health also became a sponsor of this study, and the Statement of Task was expanded to include health and safety. The overall objectives of this study are: a to review available information on the U. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

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Page 11 Share Cite. Page 12 Share Cite. Consumption and Production of Selected Mineral Commodities Consumption a percentage of world total Production a percentage of world total Coal b 21 22 Uranium c 28 6 Iron ore and steel 14 d 11 e Aluminum and bauxite 33 d 0 e Copper 23 d 13 e Zinc 18 d 11 e Gold 10 d 15 e Phosphate rock 32 d 30 e a Consumption is for the processed product e.

Uranium Institute, Page 13 Share Cite. Page 14 Share Cite. Page 15 Share Cite. Coal and Uranium. The second stage is materials handling, which involves transporting the ore and waste from the mine to the mill or disposal area.

The third stage, beneficiation and processing, occurs at the processing plant. This stage recovers the valuable portion of the mined material and produces the final marketable product. Each of these stages is dependent on large amounts of energy from varying sources, including electricity and diesel fuel. The mining industry consumed an estimated trillion British thermal units Btu in The energy-intensive nature of mining is evident by the recovery ratio of the various materials being mined.

Thus, to recover 1 ton of metal, 22 tons of material will need to be mined. Minerals are essential to nearly every aspect of our lives and our economy. Key markets include utilities, the primary metals industry, non-metallic minerals industry glass, cement, lime , and the construction industry. Capital spending in the sector is projected to account for 4. Our Focus. Towards Sustainable Mining.

About Us. Mining Association of Canada.