We explain what mineral resources are both metallic and nonmetallic, their importance and origin. In addition, types of mining.
Mineral resources or mining resources are the compounds and substances of geological origin found in the earth’s crust . Once extracted they can serve as raw material for numerous and very diverse industrial processes. These types of materials can be very different from each other, but they have in common their method of extraction: mining.
Mining is one of the oldest human activities. It consists of the search for valuable mineral resources underground, through the excavation and the opening of tunnels or quarries to separate the wanted elements from the land mass.
There were times of huge mining fever in different parts of the world, such as the so-called “gold rush” of the United States, or the massive extraction of copper in Europe and Asia during the Metal Age in Prehistory .
Mineral resources can be of two types, as we will see later: metallic and non-metallic, depending on the type of atoms that compose them. In both cases, they are known as ores , that is, sources of their compositional elements.
Mineral resources generally have a geological origin , that is, they are the result of the slow and intense changes that different types of rocks undergo in the terrestrial strata, subject to enormous conditions of pressure and temperature .
However, there are resources that are as old as the planet itself, and that have simply changed its presentation over the millennia. In fact, it is known that the core of our planet is composed mainly of iron and nickel , but in the outer layers it is possible to find numerous chemical elements forming different types of minerals.
As the name implies, this first type of mineral resources consists of associated metallic elements or constituting its core . They have a significant amount of properties traditionally associated with metal , such as brightness, electrical conduction or magnetism .
They are the most abundant mineral resources on our planet , but naturally produced at a very slow pace, so they are non-renewable resources.
Examples of this type of minerals are:
Unlike the previous ones, these mineral resources are mostly composed of non-metallic chemical elements . Therefore, their properties tend to be very different: they do not have brightness, nor do they usually conduct electricity well, and do not respond to magnetism.
There are exceptions, of course, but they also have other interesting properties that make them indispensable in many industries .
Examples of this type of minerals are:
It is difficult to think today of a product that lacks components of mineral origin. From the technology we use every day to raw materials for ceramics, metallurgy and other similar industries, today almost everything around us has components extracted thanks to mining .
In addition, they are part of many energy resources that allow to produce and consume electricity. So the extraction of mining resources, despite its ancient origin, remains a fundamental activity for humanity.
At the same time, it can be a dangerous industrial activity, especially from an environmental point of view: the ecological damage that mining leaves in its wake is usually terrible and irreversible, with a tremendous impact on water and air , as well as on The health of people .
Mining involves the extraction of minerals from the earth’s crust , which can be done in four different methods, giving rise to four types of mining:
Cryptocurrency has captivated the world since Bitcoin's mysterious arrival in 2009. It began as a…
Hello, Guys Welcome to our Website. Today we will give you information about a Famous…
Alkenes are chemical elements with double bonds or carbon double bonds. Its general formula is…
Logical semantics is a branch of logic that focuses on studying the meaning of statements…
The Game Boy Advance (GBA) was a popular handheld gaming system developed using the Game…
Soft Puzzle - Drop The Slime APK - Simple and Easy! But that's why this…