Mining In Canada Essay Research Paper The

Mining In Canada Essay, Research Paper

The Importance of Mining Industry

The importance of mining is definitely significant to Canada.

Mining, is an important industry, and Canadians are very advanced

in their mining technology, but during the mining process, there

is certain level of pollution produced. The Canadian government

and the mining companies have very good plans and controls toward

this problem, while ensuring the smooth running of the

industries, and also helping to create strong economy and

employment.

The world of today could not exist without mineral products.

Canada produces about 60 minerals and ranks first among producing

countries1. As well, Canada is the largest exporter of minerals,

with more than 20 per cent of production shipped to world

markets2. In a typical year, the mining industry is responsible

for almost 20 per cent of Canada’s total export earnings3 (See

Appendix A). As for the employment rate, over 70 per cent of the

mines are owned by Canadians and approximately 108,000 Canadians

are directly employed in the mining industry4. Mining is very

important in Canadian life. Not only do the products power the

family car and heat the family home, the manufacturing sector,

the high tech industries and even the better known resource

industries are all dependent, in some way, on the mining

industry. The mining industry will continue to be an important

support to the economy.

Mining is taking full advantage of the quick expansion of

computers and microelectronics. These technologies are found in

nearly every aspect of mineral development activity – from

exploration methods, through production, mineral processing and

even marketing. Computers and related equipment now have a lot

of different applications in geophysical logging, geochemistry,

geological mapping and surface contouring5. At the mine planning

stage, the job of designing a mine is now greatly simplified by

automation. Through the use of advanced software, geological

models can be produced from drill hole data. Computers are also

being used to develop plans for mine expansion, develop mining

schedules for yearly, quarterly and in some cases, weekly

operations. At the operating stage, this new technology is

everywhere6. Both in research and operational applications,

automated mine monitoring systems now determine immediate

information on the status of equipment in underground or remote

locations.

Canada produces its 60 mineral products from roughly 300 mines

across the country7. Before these products can make the trip

from mines to the marketplace, they must be searched for, staked,

tested, analyzed, developed. There are many difference methods

to mine for minerals, an “open pit” mine is one of the method we

use today. The ore – waste material along with the minerals, is

recovered directly from the surface. Drilling rigs are used to

drill holes into the ore areas and blasting charges will be set

in them to break loose the ore. The ore: first stop is at the

primary crushing station, often located underground, where the

large chunks of ore are crushed to a finer size. Further

crushing is required prior to sending the ore to the mill where

it is ground to a fine powder8. The purpose of crushing and

grinding is to free the minerals from the rock. Treatment may

consist of gravity or chemical concentration techniques.

The end product of the mill is a concentrate, whereby the

percentage of valuable mineral has been increased by a factor of

10 to as much as 50 times contained in the ore9. The

concentration operation may be complicated or relatively simple,

depending on the mineral content of the ore. Milling processes

are designed to separate the valuable minerals from the undesired

minerals. Although the milling process separates valuable

minerals from waste, it does not actually recover the metals in

final form. The smelting operation treats the metal-bearing

concentrate further, up-grading it to purer form called “matte”.

Basically: The ore concentrates are mixed with other materials

and treated at high temperatures to change the material to other

chemical forms. The metal in the matte can be separated further.

Further treatment is applied to the final purification of the

metal and finishing to the standards required in the metal-using

industries.

Mining, as we understanding, is a very important industry. But

there are underlying dangers to our environment. Mining

companies and the government have realized this problem, and

regulations and controls have been applied to it. The major

environmental problem usually results from the processing and

transportation of mineral products rather than from the actual

mining process. Example: when an oil spi

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