Information about Ore
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Iron ore (Banded iron formation)
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Manganese ore
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Lead ore
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Gold ore
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Ore and metal imports in 2005
- valuable
- in concentrations that can be profitably mined, transported, milled, and processed.
- able to be extracted from waste rock by mineral processing techniques.
What is valuable to mine is generally considered in terms of purely economic considerations. However, cultural, strategic or social goals of nations, tribes, and individuals may render economically unfeasible bodies of rock valuable for extraction, for instance ochre, some clays, and ornamental stones that are of religious, cultural or sentimental value to a population. Here, value is placed on the rock in non-economic terms.
Rare samples of ore in the form of exceptionally beautiful crystals, exotic layering (when sectioned or polished) or metallic presentations such as large nuggets or crystalline formations of metals such as gold or copper may command a value far beyond their value as mere ore or raw metal for subsequent reduction to utilitarian purposes.
Ore is thus an economic entity, not a physical entity. Fluctuations in commodity prices will determine what rock is considered valuable and hence ore, and what rock is not valuable and is considered waste. Similarly, the costs of extraction may fluctuate, for example with fuel costs, rendering mining unprofitable and turning ore into waste.
The grade or contained concentration of an ore mineral, or metal, as well as its form of occurrence, will directly affect the costs associated with mining the ore. The cost of extraction must thus be weighted against the contained metal value of the rock and a 'cut-off grade' used to define what is ore and what is waste.
Ore minerals are generally oxides, sulfides, silicates, or "native" metals (such as native copper) that are not commonly concentrated in the Earth's crust or "noble" metals (not usually forming compounds) such as gold. The ores must be processed to extract the metals of interest from the waste rock and from the ore minerals.
Ore bodies are formed by a variety of geological processes. The process of ore formation is called ore genesis.
Ore deposits
An ore deposit is an accumulation of ore. This is distinct from a mineral resource as defined by the mineral resource classification criteria. An ore deposit is one occurrence of the particular ore type. Most ore deposits are named according to either their location (for example the Witswatersrand, South Africa), or after a discoverer (eg; the kambalda nickel shoots are named after drillers), or after some whimsy, an historical figure, a prominent person, something from mythology (phoenix, kraken, etc) or the code name of the resource company which found it (eg; MKD-5 is the in-house name for the Mount Keith nickel mine).
Classification of ore deposits
Hydrothermal epigenetic deposits
- Mesothermal lode gold deposits, typified by the Golden Mile, Kalgoorlie
- Archaean conglomerate hosted gold-uranium deposits, typified by Elliot Lake, Canada and Witwatersrand, South Africa
- Carlin type gold deposits, including;
- Dolomite-hosted jasperoid replacement subtype
- Epithermal stockwork vein deposits
Granite related hydrothermal
- IOCG or iron-oxide copper-gold, typified by the supergiant Olympic Dam Cu-Au-U deposit
- Porphyry copper +/- gold +/- molybdenum +/- silver deposits
- Intrusive-related copper-gold +/- (tin-tungsten), typified by the Tombstone, Arizona deposits
- Hydromagmatic magnetite iron ore deposits and skarns
- Skarn ore deposits of copper, lead, zinc, tungsten, etcetera
Nickel-cobalt-platinum deposits
- Magmatic nickel-copper-iron-PGE deposits including
- Cumulate vanadiferous or platinum-bearing magnetite or chromite
- Cumulate hard-rock titanium (ilmenite) deposits
- Komatiite hosted Ni-Cu-PGE deposits
- Subvolcanic feeder subtype, typified by Noril'sk-Talnakh and the Thompson Belt, Canada
- Intrusive-related Ni-Cu-PGE, typified by Voisey's Bay, Canada and Jinchuan, China
- Lateritic nickel ore deposits, examples include Goro and Acoje, (Philippines) and Ravensthorpe, Western Australia.
Volcanic-related deposits
- Volcanic hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) Cu-Pb-Zn including;
- Examples include Teutonic Bore and Golden Grove, Western Australia
- Besshi type
- Kuroko type
Metamorphically reworked deposits
- Podiform serpentinite-hosted paramagmatic iron oxide-chromite deposits, typified by Savage River, Tasmania iron ore, Coobina chromite deposit
- Broken Hill Type Pb-Zn-Ag, considered to be a class of reworked SEDEX deposits
Carbonatite - alkaline igneous related
- Phosphorus-tantalite-vermiculite (Phalaborwa South Africa)
- Rare earth elements - Mount Weld, Australia and Bayan Obo, Mongolia
- Diatreme hosted diamond in kimberlite, lamproite or lamprophyre
Sedimentary deposits
- Banded iron formation iron ore deposits, including
- Channel-iron deposits or pisolite type iron ore
- Heavy mineral sands ore deposits and other sand dune hosted deposits
- Alluvial gold, diamond, tin, platinum or black sand deposits
- Alluvial oxide zinc deposit type: sole example Skorpion Zinc
Sedimentary hydrothermal deposits
- SEDEX
- Lead-zinc-silver, typified by Red Dog, MacArthur River, Mt Isa, etc
- Stratiform arkose-hosted and shale-hosted copper, typified by the Zambian copperbelt.
- Stratiform tungsten, typified by the Erzgebirge deposits, Czechoslovakia
- Exhalative spilite-chert hosted gold deposits
- Mississippi valley type (MVT) zinc-lead deposits
- Hematite iron ore deposits of altered banded iron formation
Astrobleme-related ores
- * Sudbury Basin nickel and copper, Ontario, Canada
Extraction
The basic extraction of ore deposits follows the steps below;
- Prospecting or Exploration to find and then define the extent and value of ore where it is located ("ore body")
- Conduct resource estimation to mathematically estimate the size and grade of the deposit
- Conduct a pre-feasibility study to determine the theoretical economics of the ore deposit. This identifies, early on, whether further investment in estimation and engineering studies is warranted and identifies key risks and areas for further work.
- Conduct a feasibility study to evaluate the financial viability, technical and financial risks and robustness of the project and make a decision as whether to develop or walk away from a proposed mine project. This includes mine planning to evaluate the economically recoverable portion of the deposit, the metallurgy and ore recoverability, marketability and payability of the ore concentrates, engineering, milling and infrastructure costs, finance and equity requirements and a cradle to grave analysis of the possible mine, from the initial excavation all the way through to reclamation.
- Development to create access to an ore body and building of mine plant and equipment
- The operation of the mine in an active sense
- Reclamation to make land where a mine had been suitable for future use
Trade
Ores (metals) are traded internationally and comprise a sizeable portion of international trade in raw materials both in value and volume. This is because the worldwide distribution of ores is unequal and dislocated from locations of peak demand and from smelting infrastructure.Most base metals (copper, lead, zinc, nickel) are traded internationally on the London Metal Exchange, with smaller stockpiles and metals exchanges monitored by the COMEX and NYMEX exchanges in the United States and the Shanghai Futures Exchange in China.
Iron ore is traded between customer and producer, though various benchmark prices are set yearly between the major mining conglomerates and the major consumers, and this sets the stage for smaller participants.
Other, lesser, commodities do not have international clearing houses and benchmark prices, with most prices negotiated between suppliers and customers one-on-one. This generally makes determining the price of ores of this nature opaque and difficult. Such metals include lithium, niobium-tantalum, bismuth, antimony and rare earths. Most of these commodities are also dominated by one or two major suppliers with >60% of the world's reserves. The London Metal Exchange aims to add uranium to its list of metals on warrant.
The World Bank reports that China was the top importer of ores and metals in 2005 followed by the USA and Japan.
Important ore minerals
- Argentite: Ag2S for production of silver
- Barite: BaSO4
- Bauxite Al2O3 for production of aluminium
- Beryl: Be3Al2(SiO3)6
- Bornite: Cu5FeS4
- Cassiterite: SnO2
- Chalcocite: Cu2S for production of copper
- Chalcopyrite: CuFeS2
- Chromite: (Fe, Mg)Cr2O4 for production of chromium
- Cinnabar: HgS for production of mercury
- Cobaltite: (Co, Fe)AsS
- Columbite-Tantalite or Coltan: (Fe, Mn)(Nb, Ta)2O6
- Galena: PbS
- Gold: Au, typically associated with quartz or as placer deposits
- Hematite: Fe2O3
- Ilmenite: FeTiO3
- Magnetite: Fe3O4
- Molybdenite: MoS2
- Pentlandite:(Fe, Ni)9S8
- Pyrolusite:MnO2
- Scheelite: CaWO4
- Sphalerite: ZnS
- Uraninite (pitchblende): UO2 for production of metallic uranium
- Wolframite: (Fe, Mn)WO4
See also
Balanced Rock stands in Garden of the Gods park in Colorado Springs, CO]] A rock is a naturally occurring aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids. The Earth's lithosphere is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.
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A mineral is a naturally occurring substance formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure and specific physical properties.
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worldwide view of the subject.
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Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually (but not always) from an ore body, vein, or (coal) seam.
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Mineral processing, otherwise known as mineral dressing, is the practice of beneficiating valuable minerals from their ores. Industrial mineral treatment processes usually combine a number of unit operations in order to liberate and separate minerals by exploiting the differences
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Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate,") generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significant importance.
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A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often "winning". Strategy is differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand by its nature of being extensively premeditated, and often practically rehearsed.
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Social refers to human society or its organization. Although the term is a crucial category in social science and often used in public discourse, its meaning is at times vague, suggesting that it is a fuzzy concept.
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A nation is a form of cultural or social community. Nationhood is an ethical and philosophical doctrine and is the starting point for the ideology of nationalism. Members of a "nation" share a common identity, and usually a common origin, in the sense of ancestry, parentage or
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This article or section is written like a personal reflection or and may require .
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This article is about the social structure.
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Ochre or Ocher (pronounced /'əʊ.kə(r)/, from the Greek ὠχρός, yellow) is a color, usually described as golden-yellow or light yellow brown.
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Clay is a naturally occurring material, composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried or fired.
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CRYSTAL is a quantum chemistry ab initio program, designed primarily for calculations on crystals (3 dimensions), slabs (2 dimensions) and polymers (1 dimension) using translational symmetry, but it can be used for single molecules.[1] It is written by V.R. Saunders, R.
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GOLD refers to one of the following:
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- GOLD (IEEE) is an IEEE program designed to garner more student members at the university level (Graduates of the Last Decade).
- GOLD (parser) is an open source BNF parser.
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2, 1
(mildly basic oxide)
Electronegativity 1.90 (Pauling scale)
Ionization energies
(more) 1st: 745.5 kJmol−1
2nd: 1957.9 kJmol−1
3rd: 3666 kJmol−1
Atomic radius 135 pm
Atomic radius (calc.
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(mildly basic oxide)
Electronegativity 1.90 (Pauling scale)
Ionization energies
(more) 1st: 745.5 kJmol−1
2nd: 1957.9 kJmol−1
3rd: 3666 kJmol−1
Atomic radius 135 pm
Atomic radius (calc.
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For the Marxist definition of a commodity, see .
A commodity is something for which there is demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a given market...... Click the link for more information.
An oxide is a chemical compound containing at least one oxygen atom and other elements. Most of the earth's crust consists of oxides. Oxides result when elements are oxidized by air.
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A sulfide mineral is a mineral containing sulfide (S2-) as the major anion. Sulfides are economically important as metal ores. The sulfide class also includes the selenides, the tellurides, the arsenides, the antimonides, the bismuthinides, and the sulfosalts (sulfur and
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The silicate minerals make up the largest and most important class of rock-forming minerals. They are classified based on the structure of their silicate ion group.
Subclasses:
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Subclasses:
Nesosilicates or Isosilicates
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native copper, is one of the few metallic elements to occur in uncombined form as a natural mineral, although most commonly occurs in oxidized states and mixed with other elements. Native copper was an important ore of copper in historic times and was used by pre-historic peoples.
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crust is the outermost layer of a planet.
The crust of the Earth is composed of a great variety of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. The crust is underlain by the mantle.
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The crust of the Earth is composed of a great variety of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. The crust is underlain by the mantle.
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GOLD refers to one of the following:
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- GOLD (IEEE) is an IEEE program designed to garner more student members at the university level (Graduates of the Last Decade).
- GOLD (parser) is an open source BNF parser.
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Oceanic crust 0-20 Ma
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The various theories of ore genesis explain how the various types of mineral deposits form within the Earth's crust. Ore genesis theories are very dependent on the mineral or commodity.
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Mineral resource classification is the systematic organization of information on ores and other mineral deposits which contain economic value. The process guides governmental and industrial planning on how to manage the resources.
Not all mineralisation meets these criteria.
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Not all mineralisation meets these criteria.
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Kambalda type nickel ore deposits are a class of magmatic nickel-copper ore deposit in which the physical processes of komatiite volcanology serve to enrich, concentrate and deposit nickel-bearing sulfide within the lava flow environment of an erupting komatiite volcano.
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The various theories of ore genesis explain how the various types of mineral deposits form within the Earth's crust. Ore genesis theories are very dependent on the mineral or commodity.
..... Click the link for more information.
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The various theories of ore genesis explain how the various types of mineral deposits form within the Earth's crust. Ore genesis theories are very dependent on the mineral or commodity.
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In geology a lode is the metalliferous ore that fills a fissure in a rock or a vein of ore deposited between layers of rock.
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See also
- Mother lode
- Comstock Lode
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Kalgoorlie-Boulder
Western Australia
Population:
• Density: 32,196 (2005) (42nd)
0.
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Western Australia
Population:
• Density: 32,196 (2005) (42nd)
0.
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Kalgoorlie-Boulder
Western Australia
Population:
• Density: 32,196 (2005) (42nd)
0.
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Western Australia
Population:
• Density: 32,196 (2005) (42nd)
0.
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Herod_Archelaus
