Ch.16 Mining and Mineral Resources

A serious hazard with coal mining is

An underground mine fire

Before mining a site, a mining company must do all of the following except

Cut into a section of the longwall

surface mining

a mining method in which soil and rocks are removed to reach underlying coal or minerals

Which if the following is not affected when soil is removed surface mine

Deep coal seams

placer deposits

Minerals concentrated by wind and water into surface deposits

quarry

Open pit used to mine materials near the surface

Smelting

The process by which ore is melted to separate the useful metal from other elements.

The first step in surface coal mining is

To use heavy equipment to take core samples

alloy

Two or more metals combined

Which of the following is one reason why undersea mining has been largely unsuccessful to date?

deposits at great water depths are difficult to work

Solar evaporation is practical in order to obtain salt from sea water in climates where rainfall is exceeded by

evaporation

Which of the following is not a way that ore minerals may form

flooding of empty streambeds and rivers

Nonmetallic minerals prized mainly for their beauty, rarity, or durability are called

gemstones

Dredging streambeds may be an effective technique for mining

gold

Mining companies can identify areas of valuable mineral resources by

mineral exploration

ore minerals

minerals that contain valuable substances

What is the arrangement of atoms in a mineral

regular, repeating geometric patterns

reclamation

the process of returning land to its original condition after mining is completed

Subsidence

the sinking of regions of the Earth's crust to lower elevations

longwall

the wall of a coal seam

aggregates

Sand gravel and crushed rock