Instructor

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Instructor

• Nicholas J. Susak
• Room 322 Forestry Geology
• nsusak_at_unb.ca
• 447-3197

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Mineral Resources

• Mineral Resource
• Any element, compound, mineral, or rock that can
  be extracted from the ground and is of potential
  value as a commodity
• Mineral Deposit
• Volume of rock that contains an enrichment of one
  or more minerals

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Dependence on Minerals
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Annual per capita consumption in the U.S.
lbs
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Use of Mineral Products
Al gutters Asphalt silica
Brick or stone limestone, clay, gypsum, aggregate
Windows sand limestone
Interior glass wool insulation gypsum
wallboard copper wiring porcelain (clay) sinks
Brass door knobs iron nails and screws
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Distribution of Mineral Resources
Porphyry Copper Metallogenic Province
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Reserves
Geological Certainty
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Ore

• Ore
• An aggregate of minerals from which one or more
  minerals can be extracted at a profit
• Gangue
• Other non-valuable minerals associated with the
  ore minerals

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Enrichment Factors
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Metallic Mineral Resources

• Mined for their metal content
• Base metals - Cu, Pb, Zn
• Ferrous metals - Fe, Ni, Co
• Precious metals - Au, Ag, Pt, PGE

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Non-metallic Mineral Deposits

• Construction
• gypsum, limestone, clay, sand gravel, crushed
  rock, dimension stone
• Chemicals
• halite, trona, sulfur, borax
• Jewelry
• diamonds, corrundum (ruby/sapphire), garnet,
  amethyst, etc.

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Non-metallic Mineral Deposits

• Ceramics
• clays, feldspar, quartz
• Abrasives
• diamonds, garnets, corrundum, quartz
• Fertilizers
• apatite (P), sylvite (K), sulfur, limestone,
  nitrates

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Types of Mineral Deposits

• Hydrothermal
• Magmatic
• Metamorphic
• Sedimentary precipitates
• Placers
• Residual

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Hydrothermal - Porphyry
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Hydrothermal - VMS
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Precipitation

• Cooling
• Reaction with wallrocks
• Acid neutralization
• Adding sulfur
• redox change

• Dilution
• Pressure drop
• throttling
• boiling

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Metamorphic Mineral Deposits
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Magmatic Deposits
Layered Intrusions
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Magmatic Deposits
Kimberlites
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Evaporites
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Stratabound Mineral Deposits
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Placers
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Residual Mineral Deposits
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Tectonics and Ore Deposits
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Mineral Deposits of New Brunswick
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Mineral Processing
Exploration
Milling Smelting
Processing
Extraction
Fabrication of Products
Waste
Consumer Use
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Environmental Impact

• Land
• Construction
• Waste Rock
• Tailings

• Water
• Acid Mine Drainage

• Air
• Dust
• Acid Gases

• Social
• Mine development mine closure