mineral exploration and its factors

• infrared spectroscopy: materials emit infrared radiation at different wavelengths, minerals can be detected by the certain wavelengths they emit
• gravitmetry: gravimeters detect differences in gravity caused by density or mass of materials
• magnetometry: magnometres detect higher magnetic rocks, such as iron ore magnetite
• seismic surveying involves creating sound waves produced by controlled explosions or seismic vibrators on the surface of the earth, these pass through materials and echoes provide information such as density or depth of the rock strata
• resistivity is the measure of difficulty electricity passes through a a specific material
• trial drilling is the most expensive but the only technique that provides samples of rocks
• chemical analysis involves laboratory tests to confirm the chemical composition and purity of minerals
• remote sensing involves any techniques that provides information without taking direct samples (includes satellite surveys, ground-based surveys, aircraft surveys)
• larger scale surveys are much more expensive and very cost effective
• ore purity affects mining viability: it affects the financial cost of exploitation and also affects the environmental impacts of mining
• a lower grade ore requires a larger quantity to be mined, this results in more waste material, more energy is required and there is a larger generation of more pollution
• chemical form affects mining viability: it affects the ease of minerals chemical extraction of the metal.
• overburden is the rock that lies above a mineral deposit
• hard overburden can affect mining viability, it may result in blasting, this in turn increases overal cost
• loose overburden increases risk of landslides
• higher precipitation or a higher amount of impermeable rocks may cause an increase in drainage cost
• depth affects mining viability: as depth increases cost also increases
• as depth of the mine increases the sides can no longer be vertical due to risk of collapsing, this increases cost of mineral extraction
• as depth increases the amount of water flowing into the mine from surface runoff or groundwater increases, this increases the pumping cost
• there must be a balance between production cost and income to achieve mining as an economically profitable activity
• lowest purity that will be mined is cut off ore purity (COOG)
• transport cost affects mining viability: it can be affected by distance to market, if suitable existing transport infrastructure exists, ease of bulk transport and whether the bulk of mineral has been reduced by processing
• market demand and sale value control economic viability
• exploiting deposits in regions with existing mining activities produce benefits: existing infrastructure for transport and energy, equipment and supplies and trained workforce
• increased market value decreases the COOG
• decreased market value increases COOG
• increased extraction technology decreases COOG
• increased energy costs increase the COOG