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Oct 30, 2022 · Surface mining is the main mining method in the mining industry. During the mining process, a large amount of soil and rock needs to be stripped to expose the ore body.
Jan 26, 2023 · Surface mining removes overburden, which is the dirt, rock, and vegetation on top of the mineral deposit. Once they unearth the deposit, miners can extract large amounts of matter relatively quickly. This method works best for deposits close to the earth's surface. What natural resources do mining companies obtain via surface mining?
- Why Choose Surface Mining?
- Strip Mining
- Open-Pit Mining
- Mountaintop Removal
- Dredging
- Highwall Mining
Surface mining is often the preference for mining companies. This is because removing the terrain surface, or overburden, to access the mineral beneath is often more cost-effective than gouging tunnels and subterranean shafts to access minerals underground. This method is often considered safer, as well, and doesn’t require extensive electricity ri...
Strip mining gets its name from the fact that the process involves stripping the surface away from the mineral that’s being excavated (usually coal). Soil, rock, and vegetation over the mineral seam is removed with huge machines, including bucket-wheel excavators. This type of mining makes sense when the mineral is near the surface. If the ore is t...
Open-pit mining is similar to strip mining, except the ore is removed from an open pit which is not then filled in. Open-pit mining has been around for centuries, with ancient cultures like the Greeks, Romans, and Persians mining for granite, marble and even salt. Open-pit mines are commonly called quarries when they produce materials used in build...
Mountaintop Removal Mining is highly controversial, and best suited for retrieving mass amounts of minerals, usually coal, from mountain peaks. The process involves blasting the overburden with explosives above the mineral seam to be mined. The broken mountaintop is then shifted into valleys and fills below. This type of mining is used when the ore...
Dredging is the more sophisticated version of panning for gold. In fact, it’s mostly associated with gold mining. Much like hopeful miners with their pans during the gold rush, floating dredges (a barge fitted with conveyor belts and scoops) move up a water table. A scoop lifts material up on a conveyor belt, and the mineral is removed on board the...
Highwall mining relies on machinery to collect ores from a “highwall”, or an unmined wall with overburden and exposed minerals and ores. Usually, highwalls are found at the edges of quarries and pit mines, and enable miners to retrieve ore from a wall that would otherwise be too expensive to clear of overburden in order to reach the ore. It’s also ...
Surface mining is predominantly used in obtaining sand, gravel, crushed stone, phosphates, coal, copper, iron, and aluminum. The materials acquired from the process account for two-thirds of the world’s solid minerals.
Surface mining techniques are used when a vein of coal or other substance lies so close to the surface that it can be mined with bulldozers, power shovels, and trucks instead of using deep shaft mines, explosive devices, or coal gasification techniques.
Surface mining allows extraction of ores that are close to Earth’s surface. Overlying rock is blasted and the rock that contains the valuable minerals is placed in a truck and taken to a refinery. As pictured in Figure here, surface mining includes open-pit mining and mountaintop removal.
Surface mining allows extraction of ores that are close to Earth’s surface. Overlying rock is blasted and the rock that contains the valuable minerals is placed in a truck and taken to a refinery. As pictured in Figure below, surface mining includes open-pit mining and mountaintop removal.
