Ore Minerals: How They Are

Found and Mined

Objective
• At the end of this lesson, you should be able to
describe how ore minerals are found, mined,
and processed for human use.
What methods are used in mining ore
minerals?
• A mineral is a naturally occurring, homogeneous
inorganic substance that has a definite chemical
composition. In this case, some important elements
including metals can be economically extracted from
specialized rocks called ore deposits.
•
Methods of Mining
• There are two methods of mining: surface mining and
underground mining.
• Surface mining is used to extract ore minerals near
the surface of the earth. The soil and rocks that
covered the ores are removed through blasting.
Blasting is a controlled use of explosives and gas
exposure to break rocks. Some examples of surface
mining are open-pit mining, quarrying, and strip
mining.
• Underground mining is used to extract the
rocks, minerals, and other precious stones that
can be found beneath the earth’s surface. In
underground mining, miners need to create a
tunnel so they can reach the ore minerals. This
kind of mining is more expensive and dangerous
as compared to surface mining because miners
need to use explosive devices to remove the
minerals from the rocks that cover them.
•
Mineral Processing
• Mineral processing is the process of extracting
minerals from the ores, refining them, and
preparing these minerals for use. The primary
steps involved in processing minerals include
sampling and analysis, comminution,
concentration, and dewatering.
• 1. Sampling is the removal of a portion which represents a
whole needed for the analysis of this material. One or more
samples are needed.
• 2. Analysis is important to evaluate the valuable components
in an ore. This includes chemical, mineralogical, and particle
size analysis.
• Chemical analysis uses electric discharge which excites
the elements in the sample to emit a certain spectra
which will reveal the identity of the elements as well as its
concentration.
• Mineralogical analysis uses heavy liquid-testing that aims
to separate the less dense, same density, and denser
materials.
• Coarsely grounded minerals are classified according
to particle size through sieving.
•
• 3. Comminution is the process where the valuable components of the
ore are separated through crushing and grinding. This process begins
by crushing the ores to a particular size and finishes it by grinding the
ores into a powder form.
• 4. Concentration involves the separation of the valuable minerals
from the raw materials.
• Optical separation is a process used in the concentration of minerals with
distinct contrasting colors (black and white) seen with the naked eye.
• Gravity separation is a process that uses the density of minerals as the
concentrating agent and performs a sink and float separation of water and
the grounded minerals.
• Flotation separation is the most widely used method that makes use of the
mineral’s wettability to water or chemicals.
• Magnetic separation is a process that involves different degrees of attraction
of minerals to magnets.
• Electrostatic separation is a process that separate the mineral particles based
on their electric charges.
• 5. Dewatering uses the concentrates to convert it to usable minerals.
This involves filtration and sedimentation of the suspension, and
drying of the solid material harvested from this suspension.