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Mineral Reources
Mineral Reources
• Subtitle
Table of Contents
• What are minerals and how are they formed?
• Mining processes
• Metallic and Non metallic Minerals
• Effects of Mining
• Protection from Mining Hazards
What are Minerals?
Introduction
• Minerals are inorganic natural substances and one of the natural resources of a country.
They are obtained from under the surface of the earth.
• Mining is an important industry in Pakistan. Pakistan has deposits of several minerals
including coal, copper, gold, chromite, mineral salt, bauxite and several other minerals.
There are also a variety of precious and semi-precious minerals that are also mined.
How are Minerals Formed?
• Some minerals are formed from hot magma, which contains the minerals. Most
minerals
are formed underground when heat and pressure transform one form of the rock into
another.
• Some minerals are formed near or on the surface. These occur when mineral rich
fluids
evaporate. They can also be formed when volcanic rocks are broken down by wind
and
water.
Mining Processes
• There are three main methods of mining.
Open-cast Mining:
• Some minerals like coal and iron often lie near the surface. These minerals are scooped up by open-cast mining. The
mineral bearing rocks are stripped off by the giant excavators and power shovels, which then load the materials into
lorries or railway wagons to be carried away.
Adit Mining:
• An adit is an opening or passage. Adit mining is done in hilly districts where a mineral seam is exposed on a hillside.
The passage may be horizontal or may slope up. Horizontal tunnels are dug into the sides of a valley or hill to reach
the mineral deposits.
Shaft Mining:
• Vertical shafts are dug down to the minerals, especially for coal. Tunnels are then dug horizontally to the layers of the
mineral which is then removed through the tunnels.
• This method is expensive and can be dangerous. For both adit and shaft mining attention must be given to the
problems of ventilation and underground transport.
• Dangerous gases are also present underground, with risk of poisoning and explosions, causing the tunnel roofs to
collapse.
Open-Cast Mining in Sindh
Adit Mining
Shaft Mining
Types of Minerals
Metallic Minerals Non-metallic Minerals
• Economically more valuable. • Economically less valuable except for power resources.
• Generally hard, tough and shiny. • Softer, rough and may not shine.
• Can change shape without breaking. • Break away when shape is changed.
• Can be stretched and • Can not be stretched or compressed.
compressed.
• Many are good thermal and electrical • Are poor thermal and electrical conductors as they are
conductors. used in construction industry.
• More reactive with water and acid. • Less reactive with water and acid.
• These include Iron, Copper, Chromite, These include Rock salt, Limestone, Coal, Natural Gas,
Gold, Silver and Tin. Gypsum, Marble and Sulphur.
Non-Metallic Minerals
• Coal: Pakistan has low quality coal. Coal is mainly
used in brick furnaces, some is used to make coke
coal bricks and a small percentage is used for power
generation. It is planned to build a thermal power
station to use the coal from a new coalfield in Thar
District. Pakistan has world’s 5th largest coal reserves.
Thar coalfield
• Limestone: Limestone is a major sedimentary
deposit and is widespread in Pakistan. It is the main
raw material for cement. It is also used in the
manufacture of bleaching powder, glass, soap, paper
and paints. It is used to treat sugarcane waste to
produce alcohol fuel.
Magnesite:
It is used in the manufacturing of
cement, fertilizer, paper pulp.
Chemicals etc. Found in spin kan
• Rock Salt: Seams of rock salt vary in
thickness from between 20 to 100 meters thick.
The rocks are white or pink in color. The salt is
covered by Gypsum and clay. Rock salt is used for
cooking, preservative and manufacturing purposes.
• A tunnel inside the Khewra salt mine. Rock salt is
extracted here through adit mining.
• Iron Ore.
• Copper: Copper is needed for the
manufacturing of electrical goods. Rich
reserves of copper are found in Saindak and
Chaghi district in Balochistan.
• The Saindak copper/gold project is situated in
Chagai district of Balochistan. Its trial
produced 1550 tons of Blister copper.
• Saindak Copper /Gold mine in Chagai district
of Balochistan.
Lack of investment
Lack of technical experts
Inaccessible mineral deposits
security of mining companies
Low priority given to mineral extraction
Institutional mismanagement
Effects of Mining
• When minerals are extracted , the vegetation has
to be cut down which results in soil exposure
and natural landscape is deformed.
• In order to provide infrastructure facilities to the
miners, roads and houses are constructed.
• During the mining process, rocks are blasted
which results in vibration and noise pollution.
• In underground mining the earth is dug out. If the
depressions are not filled , they may become
flooded by heavy rainfall.
• In Pakistan mostly traditional mining is practiced
which is very hazardous to the health of miners
because no safety standards are taken into
consideration.
Protection from Mining Hazards
• In order to minimize the environmental
degradation due to mining, the following
measures should be considered.
• The people involved in the mining process
should be given proper protective clothing
with masks so that are not affected by gases
and dust.
• The land should be levelled and depressions
should be filled in after the mining activity
to avoid deformation.
• Water treatment plants should be set up to
supply clean water to the workers living
near the mines.
• All the mining waste gases, fumes and semi
solid waste should be properly treated
before their final disposal.
Sustainable mining
Sustainable mining means that the mineral resources to be extracted in a manner that they
should be available not only for the present but also for the future generations. Moreover
the mining process should not impact the environment negatively. This implies to adding
value and recycling, reusing when necessary.