Mineral Resources

1
Chapter 4-3

• Mineral Resources

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The Uses of Minerals

• They are the source of metals, gemstones, and
  other materials used to make many products
• Gemstones hard, colorful mineral that has a
  brilliant luster
• Metals aluminum, iron, copper, silver
• Other Useful Minerals foods, medicines,
  fertilizers, and building materials.

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Ores

• A rock that contains a metal or economically
  useful mineral

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Prospecting

• Anyone who searches for an ore deposit
• Mining strip mines, open pit mines, and shaft
  mines

5
Strip Mining

• Earthmoving equipment scrapes away soil to expose
  ore

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Open Pit Mining

• Miners use giant earthmoving equipment to dig a
  tremendous pit
• Dig an open pit to remove ore deposits that may
  start near the surface, but extend down for
  hundreds of miles

7
Shaft Mines

• Network of tunnels that extend deep into the
  ground, following the veins of ore.
• Mining can harm the environment

8
Smelting

• Ores must be processed before the metals they
  contain can be used
• After miners remove ore from a mine, smelting is
  necessary to remove the metal from the ore
• An ore is melted to separate the useful metal
  from other elements the ore contains
• Alloy solid mixture of two or more metals