Mining In Canada Essays - Mining, Occupational Safety And Health

Mining In Canada 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 spill has occurred in the ocean, the problem caused to the environment is very big, because gallons of oil is spilling over the ocean's surface, resulting in the death of many ocean organisms, and in the pollution of the ocean. (See Appendix B) In