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Chapter 15: Riches in Rock: Mineral Resources

Geotours

Download Geotours.

Getting Started :

If you haven’t done it already, download Google Earth™ and install it on your computer.
If you haven’t done it already, download the Geotours.kmz file and save a copy to your desktop. (The Geotours.kmz file contains the Geotours for all chapters, so you only need to download this once!)
By downloading Geotours.kmz you acknowledge that it was created solely to accompany Steve Marshak's Earth: Portrait of a Planet and Essentials of Geology and is limited to use with only Steve Marshak's Earth: Portrait of a Planet and Essentials of Geology and may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means for any other purpose without the written permission of the publisher.
Double-click the Geotours.kmz file and Google Earth™ will open automatically.
In the left-hand sidebar you will see a Places menu, and in the Temporary Places folder you will see an EARTH_3e.kmz file. Double-click the file and you will see a list of Geotours for each chapter.
Then open the Geotour folder you want to explore! If you’d like to read more about the features of Geotours see Using Geotours, or go to our Helpful Resources section.

STOPS ON GEOTOUR 15: Large Open-Pit Mines

Bingham Copper Mine, Utah

See also Worksheet Problem 1

Iron Mine near Ouro Preto, Brazil

See also Worksheet Problem 2
"What a Geologist Sees" Geofeatures: Mining Terraces, three Acid Mine Drainage Pools, and Acid Mine Drainage

GEOTOUR 15 WORKSHEET

When ore bodies lie close to the ground surface, it is generally cheaper to extract the ore by excavating an open pit than by boring underground tunnels. Large open-pit mines can be seen from space.

Bingham Copper Mine, Utah
1. To get a sense of the scale of the Bingham Pit and of the nearby tailings, use the Measuring Tool and the Hand Tool to answer the following questions. (Note: You will find it useful to incline your image and get a 3-D perspective to distinguish the pit from the tailings.)

(a) What is the approximate map area, in square kilometers, occupied by the main, bowl-shaped mine pit? (For your measurement, use the distance between the placemarks labeled Problem 1a as the diameter of a circle.)

(b) Compare the map area of the main pit to the map area of nearby tailings piles. Which of the following statements is true (choose one):
• the area of tailings is much larger than the area of the pit
• the area of tailings is much smaller than the area of the pit
• the area of tailings is about the same as the area of the pit

(c) How high is the tallest tailings pile (highlighted by the placemark for Problem 1c), as measured from the base to the top of its eastern slope?

(d) One story (floor) in an office building is 3 m high. How tall would a building be, in stories, if it were the same height as the tailings pile in Problem1c?

Iron Mine near Ouro Preto, Brazil
2. Double-click in Image G15.3, then zoom in and fly around this area to investigate the mining operations.

(a) Visually compare the map area of the main pit to the map area of nearby tailings piles. Which of the following statements is true (choose one):
• the area of tailings is much larger than the area of the pit
• the area of tailings is much smaller than the area of the pit
• the area of tailings is about the same as the area of the pit

(b) Is your answer to Problem 2a the same as your answer to Problem 1b?

Why? (Hint: Think about the proportion of ore to waste rock in the mine.)

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StudySpace: Chemistry 2e.