2. ‘God sleeps in the minerals, awakens in plants, walks in
animals, and thinks in man’ - Arthur Young
3. Mine: an excavation made in the earth to extract minerals
Mining: the activity, occupation and industry concerned with the
extraction of minerals
Mining engineering: the practice of applying engineering principles
to the development, planning, operation, closure and reclamation of
mines
Mineral: a naturally occurring inorganic element or compound
having an orderly internal structure and a characteristic chemical
composition, crystal form and physical properties
Rock: any naturally formed aggregate of one or more types of
mineral particles
Mineral resources
4. Ore: a mineral deposit that has sufficient utility and value to be mined at a
profit.
Gangue: the valueless mineral particles within an ore deposit that must be
discarded.
Waste: the material associated with an ore deposit that must be mined to get
at the ore and must then be discarded. Gangue is a particular type of waste.
Metallic ores: those ores of the ferrous metals (iron, manganese,
molybdenum, and tungsten), the base metals (copper, lead, zinc, and tin), the
precious metals (gold, silver, the platinum group metals), and the radioactive
minerals (uranium, thorium, and radium).
Nonmetallic minerals (also known as industrial minerals): the nonfuel
mineral ores that are not associated with the production of metals. These
include phosphate, potash, halite, trona, sand, gravel, limestone, sulfur, and
many others.
Fossil fuels (also known as mineral fuels): the organic mineral substances
that can be utilized as fuels, such as coal, petroleum, natural gas, coalbed
methane, gilsonite, and tar sands.
5. • Minerals are essential for the formation and functioning of organisms, plant
animals and human beings.
• In the modern era, human life needs variety of minerals to sustain industry
based civilization.
• Mineral resources are broadly defined as elements, chemical compounds,
and mixtures which are extracted to manufacture sustainable commodity.
• India has rich mineral resource base to provide suitable base for industrial
development in the country.
• Sufficient reserve of nuclear energy minerals is available in India.
• India’s reserves, as well as production are adequate in petroleum, ores of
copper, lead, zinc, tin, graphite, mercury, tungsten, and in the minerals
required for fertilizer industry such as sulphur, potassium and phosphorus.
6. • Minerals are formed over a period of millions of years in the earth’s crust.
• These are nonrenewable resources important for modern civilization.
• India is endowed with significant mineral resources. India produces 89
minerals.
• The minerals of India are unevenly distributed and are localized in few
areas.
• More than 90% of our mineral wealth is concentrated in Chotta Nagpur
Plateau region (covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Odisha, West Bengal and
Chhattisgarh).
• In India, 80% of mining is in coal and the balance 20% is in various metals
and other raw materials such as gold, copper.
7. Cont…
• India ranks 3rd in production of coal & lignite production. 11 the
in crude steel in the World.
• Over 1.1 million people are employed in the Indian mining
industry.
• With over 2,326 private and 292 public operating mines in the
country, minerals form 16 percent of India's exports.
• Minerals are obtained from the earth through the process of
mining.
• Mining operations progress through Five stage
8. Process of mining
Mining operations progress through five stages:
• Prospecting: Searching for minerals
• Exploration: assessing the size, shape, location, and economic
value of the deposit.
• Development: the work of preparing access to the deposit so that the
minerals can be extracted from it.
• Exploitation: Extracting the minerals from the mines.
• Reclamation: Restoration of site
9. Exploitation of Minerals
Depending on their use, mineral resources can be divided into several broad
categories such as elements for metal production and technology, building
materials, minerals for the chemical industry and minerals for agriculture.
When usually we think about mineral resources we often think of metals but
the predominant mineral resources are not metallic.
10. The picture of annual world consumption of some elements is as under:
• Sodium and iron are used at a rate of about 0.1 to 1.0 billion
metric tons per year.
• Nitrogen, Sulphur, potassium and calcium are primarily used as
fertilizers at a rate of about 10 to 100 million metric tons per year.
• Zinc, copper, aluminium and lead are used at a rate of about 3 to
10 million metric tons per year;
• Gold and silver are used at a rate of about 10 thousand metric
tons per year.
• Out of all the metallic minerals, iron consumption is 95% of the
metals consumed
Thus, with the exception of iron, the non-metallic minerals are consumed
at much greater rates than the elements used for their metallic properties.
11. Classification of minerals
Group Minerals
Metallic Minerals (Ferrous
Group)
Chromite, Iron, Manganese
Metallic Minerals (Non
Ferrous Group)
Antimony, Bauxite, Copper, Lead & Zinc, Platinum
group of metals
Precious & Semi precious
Minerals
Diamond, Emerald, Garnet, Gold, Ruby, Sapphire,
Silver
Strategic Minerals Cobalt, Molybdenum, Nickel, Rare Earth Elements, Tin,
Titanium, Tungsten, Vanadium
Fertilizer Minerals Phosphate(Apatite), Rock Phosphate, Potash, Pyrite,
Sulphur
Refractory Minerals Andalusite, Graphite, Kyanite, Magnesite, Sillimanite
Ceramic and Glass Mineral Wollastonite
Other Industrial Minerals Asbestos, Borax, Diatomite, Fluorite, Limestone, Marl,
Perlite, Rock Salt, Vermiculite, Zircon
Minor Minerals Ball Clay, Barytes, Bentonite, Calcite, Chalk, China
Clay, Corundum, Diaspore, Dolomite, Dunite, Feldspar,
Fire Clay, Fuller's Earth, Granite, Gypsum, Laterite,
Marble, Mica, Ochre, Pyrophyllite, Quartz & Silica
Sand, Quartzite, Talc/Steatite/Soapstone, Shale, Slate
14. Uses of minerals
• Iron, aluminum, zinc, manganese and copper are important raw
materials for industrial use.
• Important non-metallic resources include coal, salt, clay, cement and
silica.
• Stone used for building material, such as granite, marble, limestone,
constitute another category of minerals.
• Minerals with special properties such as diamonds, emeralds and
rubies are used for aesthetic and ornamental purpose.
• Minerals in the form of oil, gas, coal were formed when ancient plants
and animals were converted into underground fossil fuels.
15. Environmental effects
• The mining, processing, and use of resources
require enormous amounts of energy and often
cause land disturbance.
• Mineral industry is a major contributor to air and
water pollution and to emissions of greenhouse
gases.
• The grade of an ore – its percentage of metal
content – has an impact on metal mining; it takes
more money, energy and water to exploit lower
grade ores.
• Exploring the minerals involve geophysical
surveys, drilling and trenching lead to camp
garbage, road erosion, habitat disruption, and
noise pollution.
16. • Mining and milling operations lead to wildlife and fisheries habitat
loss, changes in local water balance, sedimentation, and heavy
metal leaching from acid mine drainage.
• Smelting and refining activities lead to sulphur dioxide emissions
contribute to acid rain.
• Even mine closure activities would be causing revegetation failure,
wind borne dust, seepage of toxic solutions into ground and surface
water contamination from acid mine drainage.
17. Roads and unlimited access to mines have a negative impact on
wilderness areas in 4 ways:
• Habitat fragmentations as roads disrupt movement and
migratory routes.
• Collisions between vehicles and wildlife occur. Roads allow
uncontrolled hunting and increased wildlife mortality
• Degradation and sedimentation of streams and river beds.
• Pollutants in pristine areas.
18. Reclamation
• Topographic Reconstruction
• Replacement of Topsoil and Soil Reconstruction
Scrap the top soil prior to drilling and blasting
Scrapped topsoil should be used immediately for plantation work;
otherwise it should be stacked in a designated area.
Stacked topsoil should be surrounded by proper embankments to
prevent erosion.
Stacked topsoil should be stabilized further by grasses and bush to
protect from the wind.
• Revegetation
Planting pollutant tolerant species.
Plants of fast growing with thick vegetation foliage
Indigenous/exotic plants species with easy adaptability to the locality.
Socio economic requirement of the people of the surrounding area.
19. Conservation of Minerals
Conservation of minerals can be done in number of ways and these are as
follows,
• Industries can reduce waste by using more efficient mining and
processing methods.
• In some cases, industries can substitute plentiful materials for scarce
ones.
• Some mineral products can be recycled. Aluminum cans are commonly
recycled. Although bauxite is plentiful, it can be expensive to refine.
Recycling aluminum products does not require the large amounts of
electric power needed to refine bauxite.
• Products made from many other minerals, such as nickel, chromium,
lead, copper, and zinc, can also be recycled.
• Strict laws should be made and enforced to ensure efficient management
of mining resources.
20. Case Study
• Aravalli mountains which covers about 10% of geographical area is rich
source of minerals wealth .This mountain range play important role in
control of climate and act as mini watershed. On the request of
environmentalist, Honorable Supreme Court has passed the order to stop
these mines in Rajasthan
• Marble mining near Rajsamant Lake has lead to drying up of lake. Marble
mining was stopped on December 2002.
• Recently, mining in Goa has attained the attention of the press and media
and ultimately government has to take the decision to stop this mining.
