Mining Industry - Research Paper Example

They are used in constructing the foundation of structures like houses, buildings and towers. They are also necessary in making pipelines and electric lines. Metals have really many uses in construction (Ballast, 2007, p. 216). Even the tools used by carpenters and the machines used in construction are all made from metals. Metals are not only used for construction and ornaments, they are also proven to be necessary in kitchen wares, dining wares, weapons, vehicles, coins, hospital equipment, factory machines, computers, appliances, and many more.

Metals have been part of the daily life since they have the characteristics of having high tensile strength and conductive properties while some of them are ductile and malleable (Kjelle, 2006). Those unique characteristics make metals very important in the lives of people. Without them, technology will not be able to advance quickly and people will not have the tools that they need to make their works easier than before. Metals are extracted from the earth together with other minerals that are necessary for survival of humankind.

The activity of mineral extraction is called mining (Hartman and Mutansky, 2002, p. 1). It has been conducted many times already as people need minerals as raw materials for creating the objects that they use. Such dependence upon the minerals and mining has led to the understanding of the nature of the earth and considering it as the source of richness. Mining is not just a simple process of extraction as it gets the minerals from rocks, soil and other geological particles from the land or even under water.

Geological materials may vary in size from big boulders of rocks to small stones and gravel (Hartman and Mutansky, 2002, p. 5). With the different sizes of materials, mining requires various approaches especially when extraction is needed to be done in reefs. Mining is usually undertaken to satisfy economic interests as some minerals are proven to be precious metals which cost very high in the market. People may find them to be expensive and the sellers will get lumps of wealth from the precious metals and minerals.

Some people may think that it is easy to obtain minerals and metals but they are gathered in complex manners. In addition, processing must be done after the extraction before they become useful in the market. Normally the complex processes in extraction and refining add up to the market price of the metals (Hartman and Mutansky, 2002, p. 15). The said process in the aforementioned paragraph takes a long run wherein the extracted materials from the earth must be segregated to separate the metals from the waste materials.

The separated materials called side materials may not be totally wasted but they are not the priority of the miners. In the mining area, it is a common sight to gather more waste than the raw metal (ore) during the whole mining activity in a given area. Because of the low chance of obtaining much ores, detailed planning in the quest for the raw metals and minerals are needed (Panagiotou and Michalakopoulos, 2000, p. 439). The whole activity puts in high expenses in the side of the companies involved in the activities.

The waste separated from the ores during the mining process is classified as either mineralized or sterile. The former has the capacity to react with acids while the latter does not have any affinity for acids. The