31
votes
What is the deepest we have ever gone into the Earth?
Probably a bit over 4 km, in this South African mine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mponeng_Gold_Mine But as the link mentions, the mine operators go to considerable lengths to reduce the mine ...
- 1,748
30
votes
Accepted
Why are cobalt deposits so unevenly distributed?
Part 1
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 ...
- 23.1k
19
votes
Accepted
Can ultrasounds be used to map the density of large underground regions?
Sound-like waves are routinely used to image the subsurface, but mostly well below the ultra-sound band.
Several methods involve sound-like vibrations:
Reflection seismic — the most important ...
- 11k
19
votes
What is the deepest we have ever gone into the Earth?
Since you termed it based on sea level, the gold mines in South Africa are not the deepest, they begin at an elevation of ~1500 m, meaning their 4 km depth is only 2.5 km below sea level.
The Kidd ...
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19
votes
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Why would India have so much thorium on its beaches?
why would India have so much thorium on it's beaches...?
Because monazite. Monazite is a rare earth element phosphate, with the formula CePO4 (where Ce stands not only for cerium, but all of the are ...
- 23.1k
11
votes
Accepted
Is there likely to be coal under the Sahara?
The older rocks underlying the Sahara
are mostly granite, schist, or gneiss, all mixtures of igneous and metamorphic rocks forged deep beneath the surface
This stable mass of rock has been covered ...
- 24.6k
8
votes
Accepted
Urgent, Please help, where can I find worldwide standards of manganese mining?
Your issue is an issue for all types of mining near residential or built up areas, not just manganese mining.
The distance that mines should be from built up areas depends on
the competency of the ...
- 24.6k
8
votes
Why are cobalt deposits so unevenly distributed?
Its not that cobalt is less abundant or wide spread. What you are noticing is that gold has been mined for far longer than cobalt and is far more valuable. Gold has been mined even in antiquity and ...
- 6,878
7
votes
Accepted
What are the phenomenon (artificial and natural) in play in this photograph "350m beneath Berezniki in Russia"?
As stated in the caption for the picture this is an inside view of a potash mine.
Mining professionals regard potash, like most coal, to be a soft rock; unlike hard rock such as most metal sulfides.
...
- 24.6k
7
votes
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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?
The main hard rock sources of diamonds are either kimberlites or lamproites.
Many kimberlite and lamproite deposits occur as:
carrot-shaped, vertical intrusions termed 'pipes'
As the term "carrot-...
- 24.6k
7
votes
Accepted
What is the geologic origin of the Bauxite deposit in Bauxite, Arkansas, and could there be more?
The short answer is, bauxite requires a particular alumina-rich source rock and a specific set of conditions and processes to concentrate the aluminum in a specific order.
From the Encyclopedia of ...
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6
votes
Accepted
What is the atmospheric pressure at the deepest point of the Kidd mine?
From the book Environmental Engineering in South African Mines, The Mine Ventilation Society of South Africa, 1989, pp 451-455.
The equation required is:
$P \ = \ P_{atm}\cdot e^{\frac{-gMh}{1000R\...
- 24.6k
5
votes
Spatial Continuity in python
Your last question was easy to answer, this one is more difficult. You could look at correlation and dependence, but you'd be better off looking at variography. That's the easier part of this question ...
- 24.6k
5
votes
Interpreting Prospecting Ore Test Result
One lab result does not an orebody make.
In terms of economic potential nothing can be ascertained from data in the question.
When it comes to minerals and economics there are two terms that need to ...
- 24.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Is there any iron ore in New Guinea?
The island of New Guinea is effectively divided into two entities, the country of Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half and the Indonesian province of West New Guinea occupies the western half.
...
- 24.6k
4
votes
Why is lithium so unevenly distributed?
Start by reading my answer on a different website:
https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/a/96630/8083
This is a quick explainer on what "reserves" actually are.
Lithium is mined from two main sources:...
- 23.1k
4
votes
Accepted
Why is lithium so unevenly distributed?
The term "reserves" doesn't mean what most people think it does. A mineral deposit is simply a concentration of a mineral; a reserve is a deposit that is both known and economical to extract. As an ...
- 1,209
4
votes
Accepted
Where can I find a list of active mining claims in my area (Northern Nevada)?
You may want to check this out ESRI open data http://opendata.arcgis.com/ if this is what you were looking for.
One another thing is that you might want to contact BLM's Nevada State Office.
http://...
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4
votes
Accepted
Canadian equivalent to AMLIS database?
Try:
Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory
as well as
Crown Contaminated Sites Database (British Columbia)
Orphaned/Abandoned Mine Site Rehabilitation (Manitoba)
Abandoned Mines Information System-...
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4
votes
Can mining trigger earthquakes?
Yes.
In addition to triggering natural earthquakes, (as pointed out by @hichris123) Mines can also be sources of artificial seismic activities due to mine collapses and/or explosives.
Miners will ...
- 485
4
votes
Accepted
Is there a list of instances where mountains that have been mined out of existence?
Of course it happens elsewhere! However, I'm not sure there's a specific term, generally. Even in the "montaintop removal" country of Appalachia, there is no more prosaic term for the practice other ...
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4
votes
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Why can't we dig deeper?
Here is a thermal profile of the borehole:
(Source: Fig 5 in Yuri A. Popov, Sergei L. Pevzner, Vyacheslav P. Pimenov, Raisa A. Romushkevich,
New geothermal data from the Kola superdeep well SG-3,
...
- 2,633
4
votes
Will Lithium batteries mean we have to exploit Co-Mn-Ni nodules from the seafloor?
No it is not inevitable that the production and continued used of lithium batteries will mean the exploitation of cobalt, manganese and nickel nodules from the sea floor.
Sufficient quantities of ...
- 24.6k
4
votes
Where can I find geological maps for countries from Africa?
You may find some of the maps you seek on the OneGeology portal, which gives access to both regional mapping and maps uploaded by national geological surveys. You could also review the data available ...
- 2,010
4
votes
Where are all the minerals that have been mined?
The answer is, "it depends on the minerals and what happened to them once they were mined".
There are two types of minerals mined: ore minerals and waste minerals. To mine ore minerals ...
- 24.6k
3
votes
Accepted
What kind of mine pit in northeastern Minnesota could make residue that turns water turn bright red?
From the red stain in the water & the rocks in the lower left of the picture it looks like iron ore.
Also, the red stain in the water appears to be a colloidal suspension, consistent with minor ...
- 24.6k
3
votes
Accepted
How much Sulfur Dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere from a mine fire?
All coal deposits are different. Coal chemist is highly varied, and the amounts of sulfur and heavy metals with the coal seams varies with each deposit & within seams. This is due to the ...
- 24.6k
3
votes
Are there sufficient quantities of limestone to dump in the ocean to reverse acidification?
Yes, there is much more than enough limestone, by several orders of magnitude, to neutralize the acidity that we are creating - so much so that I am not even going to bother with the back of an ...
- 14.2k
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