Questions tagged [mining]
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54 questions
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Can mining trigger earthquakes?
Are earthquakes more common in mining regions than they would otherwise be? e.g. is the frequency of earthquakes in those regions different when mining is occurring than when it is not?
I am ...
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Why are cobalt deposits so unevenly distributed?
The Democratic Republic of the Congo's Katanga Province contains almost 40% of the world's reserves of cobalt [1].
Why are deposits concentrated so strongly in such a small portion of the earth?
I ...
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What is the deepest we have ever gone into the Earth?
I remember Journey to the Center of Earth and wonder: What is the deepest in the Earth surface or below sea level we have traveled either by foot, sub, drill or camera?
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Why would India have so much thorium on its beaches?
The recent BBC News article Why India Wants to Turn its Beaches into Nuclear Fuel includes the passage:
The tropical beaches of India probably bring to mind sun-dappled palms, fiery fish curries and ...
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Can ultrasounds be used to map the density of large underground regions?
This question arose from a related one at Physics.SE, along with my own personal quest to better understand mineralogical prospecting.
I want to know if some kind of ultrasound machine can determine ...
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How many joules are required to mine a unit of coal?
Coal is still a major source of energy for generation of electricity. So how much energy is used to extract a unit (tonne/kilogram etc) of coal? And thus what is the efficiency of coal as a source of ...
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Canadian equivalent to AMLIS database?
I am interested in in situ coal fires. In furtherance of this, I am hoping to find a database of Canadian mine reclamation sites, complete with incident or status reports and descriptions of specific ...
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Are there sufficient quantities of limestone to dump in the ocean to reverse acidification?
This question asked: What is the evidence it is feasible to reverse ocean acidification by adding large quantities of a base (bicarb soda)?
The result was:
Danny Harvey of the University of ...
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Is there a list of instances where mountains that have been mined out of existence?
Reading the Wikipedia entry for the Australian town of Broken Hill, I came across the following piece of trivia (emphasis mine):
The "broken hill" that gave its name to Broken Hill actually ...
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What is the long term impact of large scale removal of material from subterraneal caches on the structural integrity of the soil?
For example, sinkholes can be human induced:
New sinkholes have been correlated to land-use practices, especially
from groundwater pumping and from construction and development
practices. ...
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Is there likely to be coal under the Sahara?
In Pangaea, northern Africa would have had humid onshore winds from the Tethys Ocean, making dense vegetation/rainforest biome likely.
Consequently, would we be likely to find coal underneath the ...
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What is the atmospheric pressure at the deepest point of the Kidd mine?
At 2735 m (8973 ft) below sea level, the Kidd mine reportedly has the deepest non-marine point of the Earth's surface (since the Kola borehole is sealed). I wonder what the pressure down there is, as ...
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Why do mineral deposits exist in veins?
One would imagine that the various atoms of the periodic table would be well mixed in the earth's crust. Yet, certain locations on earth have large amounts of specific mineral deposits. Consider gold ...
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Why can't we dig deeper?
I recently read on another SE site that there's a limitation on how deep we can dig into the earth.
A Google search reveals that temperature is the problem.
I quote from a Popular Mechanics article, ...
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1
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What are the phenomenon (artificial and natural) in play in this photograph "350m beneath Berezniki in Russia"?
This image is from the BBC Culture article Striking photos of human scars on Earth. It is accompanied by the text and captions below.
But I still don't understand what I'm looking at at all. Can ...
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Why is lithium so unevenly distributed?
According to the US Geological Survey, nearly all of the world's lithium reserves are in Chile/Argentina, China, and Australia. Why is this? Lithium seems to be mostly harvested from brine pools, so ...
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What is the CI chondrite concentration of REEs/rare metals, in ppm/grams per ton?
I am researching the abundances of rare earth elements and rare metals in meteorite samples, because I want to investigate the notion that asteroids represent abundant stocks of rare resources. The ...
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Mining iron or metals in nature
Upon watching all the videos from PrimitiveTechnology on Youtube, I've decided I would try something similar. I know how to make clay and use this to make an oven. I also know how to make charcoal. ...
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Interpreting Prospecting Ore Test Result
I need help in explaining the commercial viability of this potential Tantalum lab test result from Africa.
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Why do diamond mines seem to always appear conical? Are the above-ground mines all that way? All at about the same angle?
From the BBC's Russia: Eight missing in flooded diamond mine:
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What is the geologic origin of the Bauxite deposit in Bauxite, Arkansas, and could there be more?
Bauxite is an mineral of Aluminum. Despite a general mineral wealth, the USA does not have any major Bauxite deposits, except for one in Arkansas. The mining town was named Bauxite, Arkansas.
The ...
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Will Lithium batteries mean we have to exploit Co-Mn-Ni nodules from the seafloor?
Co-Mn-Ni goes into some of the most efficient Lithium Ion battery chemistry. It is very convenient that Co-Mn-Ni is also readily available from the ocean seabed.
Polymetallic nodule contains various ...
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Spatial Continuity in python
I have data like this of rocks from 3 blast holes:
These are the rock properties of each blast hole of a mining site. The rock properties come from the Block model of that mining site.
I want to ...
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Strange coating in old lime mine shaft
Near Prague,Czech Republic is old lime mine. Most of it is closed but one short transport tunnel under one hill is publicly accessible. Tunnel has profile around 2,5x2,5m and it's slightly bended and ...
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Is there any iron ore in New Guinea?
Generally speaking, iron is considered to be a very common resource. But I cannot find any evidence that there is any of it at all in New Guinea. Copper and gold, yes. Even nickel and cobalt. Iron on ...
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How much earth has to be moved to get one tonne of copper
I am trying to make sense of the mining process of minerals or metals.
I found two measures related to waste: the stripping ratio (which is usually larger than 3:1 for copper, i.e. 3 tonnes of waste ...
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Why does Morocco have so much phosphate?
I read that Morocco/Western Sahara has 75% of the world's known phosphate reserves, but I couldn't find an explanation of what mineral is responsible for it and how it all ended up there.
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Understanding 1x5x9 pattern for block precedence algorithm in open pit mining
I came across several visual representation of the 1x5x9 pattern defined for block precedence computation in the ultimate pit limit problem. But I can't seem to understand fully how it is computed. I ...
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Where can I find worldwide standards of manganese mining?
Hi everybody who sees this post, I need urgent help for finding all official world wide standards of the manganese mining.
Problem is that, many houses has been damaged in my village with manganese ...
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Where are all the minerals that have been mined?
I wondered, in general, what has happened to all the minerals that have been mined by humans. Do they still circulate in the economy and could be recovered through 'urban mining'. Or will they have ...
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What is oldest known coal source?
I read coal form in all geologic times but what is oldest know coal source?
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How much Sulfur Dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere from a mine fire?
Since burning coal leads to a variety of air pollutants, presumably a coal mine fire would also lead to air pollutants. My question is whether there have been any published studies on the emission ...
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Spatial continuity
I am learning about geology and mining concepts.
Can someone please explain me what does "Spatial Continuity" is only applied on spatial variables like some data on spatial area OR it can as well be ...
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How gold deposits can be formed in Himalayas?
I have heard that gold is found in the water coming out of glaciers in Skardu region of Pakistan.
Given that this area is part of Himalaya, what processes could result into ores of gold in this area?...
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Where does all the earth from surface mining go?
Surface mining digs up a lot of earth and rock. After the desired ore is separated, where do the earth and rock mined go?
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How Common is Volcanic Tuff?
Volcanic tuff was a key material in the Roman invention of concrete, something that modern concrete, or "Portland cement", lacked. With tuff, not only would Roman concrete be waterproof, it would ...
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Where can I find geological maps for countries from Africa?
I am interested in geological maps for multiple African countries: Egypt, Sudan, and Ivory Coast. Is there any geoportal available for Africa, something similar to geokniga or vsegei, but for Arican ...
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Geological maps of British Columbia
I’ve been doing research into mineral deposits in B.C. I’ve been overlaying old claims maps onto Google Earth maps. Are there any good public maps for metallic minerals for British Columbia online?
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Where can I find a list of active mining claims in my area (Northern Nevada)?
I live in the Reno/Sparks area and have started rockhounding. One aspect I am quickly realizing is that many sites are actively being mined. In order to avoid running afoul of local laws, I would ...
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What are the differences between alluvial, eluvial and colluvial deposits? [duplicate]
There's always confusion and disagreement when these terms are mentioned. Need to be sure of their exact meanings.
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Why should wellbores be supported by pressure, but not mine tunnels?
I recently read about safe mud window - it states that the mud pressure in a wellbore should be high enough to prevent well collapse, and should not exceed the formation's fracture pressure. But ...
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Mining and keeping UK minerals?
Is it legal to mine/collect and keep minerals in the UK for educational purposes?
I would also like to know if there are any notable mineral deposits located in the UK midlands.
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Cobalt production in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): What percentage of the 70% production comes from illegal mines?
In Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), approximately 70% of the world's cobalt is produced. However, I'm curious about the percentage of this 70% that comes from ...
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Airborne geophysical survey in steep and undulating terrain. What is more important, energy conservation or orienting lines wrt to geology and why?
I am trying to design a cost and energy efficient aerial survey and have come up against the question, 'do we have to fly straight lines perpenducular to geology?' as not doing so could make for a ...
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What kind of mine pit in northeastern Minnesota could make residue that turns water turn bright red?
Reading about turbidity, I came across this web page with the frightening image shown below.
Text immediately before reads:
Reasons for Natural Variation
Algal turbidity varies seasonally and with ...
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Does anyone know what the mineral of the year 2023 is?
I have been collecting every mineral of the year since 2012, and I have not found anything on last year's mineral.
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Is it possible that the rainbow sand dunes in Death Valley, California were formed by some massive mining in the ancient past? [closed]
I know there is a mainstream answer that thinks the rainbow sand dunes they be explained geologically... I just want to know if it's possible to form those colors and those dunes from mining? And if ...
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How many mines are there on Earth, and what is their output in tonnes?
I am writing a space colonization game, and I need some guidance on default values for mine productivity. If you also know an estimate of how much people work on them, that's a bonus. Thanks in ...
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What is cluster situation with respect to sand mining?
Guideline on handling cluster issues : The original Environmental Impact Assessment ( EIA ) notification does not provide for the procedure to handle cluster situation, which has been proposed in ...
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What is the total weight of mineral extractions from Earth per year?
I am writing a somewhat realistic space game, and instead of the commercial 3 or 4 commodities model, I am making my players suffer with all 118 elements. I have gathered the data needed to create ...