BASE METALS

1
BASE METALS

• Cu, Pb, Zn, Sn, Hg, Cd

2
Copper

• Earliest Underground Mines
• When
• 6000 years ago
• Much of it native Cu
• Ore mineral Chalcopyrite

3
Copper

• Abundance is 58 ppm

4
Copper Geological Occurrence

• Magmatic Segregation Deposit
• Hydrothermal
• Sediment Hosted

5
Copper Hydrothermal

• 1. Veins
• A. meteoric or sea water
• B. Magmatic water
• E.g. Yellowstone is 90 rain water and 10
  magmatic
• A little diversion here!

6
Copper Hydrothermal

• 2. Porphyry Copper
• 3. Skarn
• 4. Volcanogenic massive sulphide

7
Copper Sediment Hosted

• Shales
• Kupferschiefer
• 245 to 286 million years old
• 20 cm thick over 6000 square km
• Mined since the 1300s
• Congo and Zambia
• 900 million years old
• Our source of Co as well
• White Pine Cu, UP Michigan

8
Copper Production and Reserves
9
Copper Production and Reserves
10
Copper price
11
Copper major producers 2006

• Chile--35 the worlds production
• U.S. 8
• Peru 7
• All others under 5

12
Lead and Zinc

• Usually found together in nature
• Have approximately the same solubility in
  fluidsboth relatively low temperature
• Pb has been known since antiquity, but not Zn

13
Lead and Zinc Minerals

• PbGalena PbS
• Zn-sphalerite (Zn,Fe)S
• Source of Cd too as by-product
• ZnCO3 (original source)

14
Lead Uses

• Gasoline in some countries
• Batteries
• Paints
• Solder
• Bearings
• Xray Radiation protection

15
Lead and Zinc
16
Lead Facts

• China and Australia produce about 50 of the
  worlds lead (2006)
• U.S. recycled about 74 of the lead in 2006
• Toxicity

17
Zinc

• Discovered in Bristol in 1740 (your text)was a
  Zn industry established
• Discovered by Andreas Marggraff in 1746 (web
  elements)
• http//www.zinc.org/
• Relatively soft, bluish whiteharder to smelt
  than either Cu or Pb

18
Zinc uses

• Galvonizing
• Zn in brass
• ZnO
• Cu pennies (since 1982 in the U.S. (in the UK,
  pennies and tuppences are Cu clad steel)

19
Zinc prices
20
Zinc Major Producers

• China produced 2.5 million tons
• 25 of the worlds production
• Australia produced 1.4 million
• 14
• Peru produced 1.21 million
• 12.1

21
Geologic Occurrence Lead Zinc

• 1. Veins
• 2. Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide
• 3. Mississippi Valley Type Deposits
• 4. Sediment Hosted

22
Sn, Hg, Cd

• Tin has been known for over 5000 years
• Bronze and Pewter
• Sn plating
• Solders
• Mineral Cassiterite

23
Geologic Occurrence of Sn

• Granitic Rocks
• Placer deposits
• It is very dense and hard

24
Tin Producers

• USGS http//minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commod
  ity/tin/

25
Mercury (Hg)

• Liquid in its natural state
• Mineral source Cinnabar (HgS)
• Blood red in color
• Mercury data http//minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/p
  ubs/commodity/mercury/

26
Cadmium (Cd)

• Discovered in 1817 as an impurity associated with
  Zn
• Cd is recovered during the smelting of ZnS
• Cd datahttp//minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/com
  modity/cadmium/