AP®︎ Environmental Science: Topic 5.9 Flashcards

Removal of economically valuable minerals, ores, and geologic fuels from Earth

Rock containing a valuable substance at a concentration high enough for profitable extraction under current conditions

Concentration of the desired substance in ore; recovering the same amount from lower-grade ore requires mining and processing more rock, using more water and energy, and producing more waste and pollution

Removal of vegetation and large portions of soil and rock to reach a shallow mineral deposit

Soil and rock above a mineral deposit that must be removed to reach it; displaced overburden may be called spoil

Surface mining that clears vegetation and removes overburden in long strips to expose shallow, horizontal deposits; the exposed soil is especially susceptible to erosion

Surface mining that extracts a broadly distributed deposit by excavating a large, often stepped pit

Surface coal mining that removes a mountain’s upper portion to expose coal seams, often placing waste in nearby valleys

Processing crushed ore on a lined pile with a chemical solution that dissolves and carries away the target metal

Extraction of deposits too deep for economical surface mining through shafts, tunnels, and underground chambers; it usually disturbs less surface land but is more complex and expensive

Sinking or collapse of the land surface into underground spaces left by mining

Excavated rock containing too little valuable material to be processed economically

Finely crushed waste left after valuable minerals are separated from ore, often stored as a water-based slurry

Solid, often glasslike waste formed during high-temperature smelting of concentrated ore

Acidic, metal-contaminated water formed when exposed sulfide minerals react with oxygen and water, producing sulfuric acid that dissolves metals

Environmental and social costs not included in mining products’ market prices and instead borne by governments or affected communities