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Supply
Published in John E. Tilton, Juan Ignacio Guzmán, Mineral Economics and Policy, 2016
John E. Tilton, Juan Ignacio Guzmán
Primary production, in turn, can be further broken down. Some mineral commodities, such as iron, phosphate rock, and aluminum (produced from bauxite), are normally extracted as single or individual products. Others are produced as joint products. Lead and zinc, for example, are often extracted together from the same mine. Molybdenum and gold are often found in porphyry copper deposits. Nickel sulfide mines in Canada and elsewhere may produce copper as well. Rare earth deposits often possess a host of valuable minerals. Potash and lithium are extracted from the same brines around the globe.
Conclusions and Policy Implications
Published in Margaret E. Slade, An Econometric Model of the U.S. Copper and Aluminum Industries, 1984
In chapter II, we saw that the long-run elasticity of supply of primary copper in the U.S., calculated from the CAS model primary-production equation, was much lower than the Fisher-Cootner-Baily (1972) estimate of the same elasticity. The low elasticity found here was attributed primarily to two factors, both of which have contributed to higher costs for capacity expansions in the domestic copper industry than for existing facilities. First, in copper mining, most of the very large, high-quality porphyry deposits have been fully developed. Because newly discovered deposits tend to be smaller, of lower grade, or more deeply buried, costs for new mines are higher than costs for existing ones. And second, in copper smelting, new air-pollution control regulations limiting the emission of sulfur dioxide and particulates have led to increased capital costs. Because new smelters have to meet New Source Performance Standards, substantial price increases are required to bring new smelting capacity on line. Not only are substantial price increases required for capacity expansions, but moderately rising prices are needed if the U.S. is to remain a major copper producer. The U.S. can continue to produce copper at present levels only by exploiting progressively lower and lower grade ores, and we saw that copper mining and milling costs increase more than proportionately as ore grades fall. However, the upward trend that we noted in deflated copper priceduring the last twenty five years is projected to continue in the future under all but the most pessimistic conditions, and the domestic copper industry continues to produce at present, if not expanded, levels in most of the simulations performed.
Current and future supply of minerals
Published in Natalia Yakovleva, Edmund Nickless, Routledge Handbook of the Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development, 2022
Karin E. Olson Hoal, Eric Pirard, Alan R. Butcher
Any given region contains a limited amount of resources, and therefore after time, the number of newly discovered deposits, and thus the total production, will decline. It is this phenomenon that Hubbert postulated, and which resulted in a famous bell curve (Hubbert, 1956). Hubbert correctly predicted a peak in Texas oil production in 1970, but does the peak oil equation apply equally to metals and minerals? Basically, we can likely say yes, since resources are necessarily finite, but there are several features that differentiate fossil energy resources and mineral resources. The primary difference is that fossil energy resources (oil, gas, coal) occur within precise chronological and stratigraphic limits, and have been the subject of far more globally intensive and systematic exploration than have mineral resources. Hubbert’s peak can only objectively appear when an entire region (or planet) is subject to equiprobable exploration. However, not only do mining companies spend much less on exploration than their oil counterparts but unlike oil, metal resources have, with some exceptions, no reason to become scarcer as exploration deepens. In other words, to get a picture of the first part of Hubbert’s peak for copper, for example, one would have to be able to show that a very large part of the deep crust has been systematically explored, which is not the case. Even if one wanted to limit the application of the Hubbert Peak method to ‘porphyry copper’ type deposits only, one cannot consider that the entire region concerned has prospected in a homogeneous manner. Porphyry copper deposits which are being mined today are located predominantly in or near geologically recent subduction zones. These have not yet been explored at greater depths where one could reasonably expect to find more mineralised bodies not yet exposed through erosion.
On the Use of the H/V Spectral Ratio Method to Estimate the Fundamental Frequency of Tailings Dams
Published in Journal of Earthquake Engineering, 2023
César Pastén, G. Peña, D. Comte, L. Díaz, J. Burgos, A. Rietbrock
Earthquakes are among the most common triggers of tailings dam failures (WISE Uranium Project 2019). Due to the subduction of the Nazca plate beneath the South American plate, Chile is subject to a highly active seismic activity. In the last decades, Central Chile was hit by the 1985 Mw 8.0 Valparaiso, the 2010 Mw 8.8 Maule, and the 2015 Mw 8.3 Illapel Earthquakes (Ruiz and Madariaga 2018). The relationship between the subduction process and mineralization has been recognized in metallogenic studies ever since the theory of plate tectonics was widely accepted. Important metallogenic belts worldwide are mostly located in subduction zones. Porphyry-type deposits are generally related to arc magmatism or partial melting of subducted plates, with ore-forming fluids areas derived from the dehydration of the subducted slab, indicating the intimate relationship between the subduction process and mineralization (e.g. Wilkinson 2013). As a result, Chile has one of the largest copper reserves in the World and is currently one of the largest copper producers. The copper concentration process, when copper sulfide ore is mined, generates large amounts of tailings that must be safely stored in Tailings Storage Facilities (TSF). Villavicencio et al. (2014) reported that 31 out of 38 physical stability failures involving loss of human life, significant environmental damage, and economic losses of Chilean sand tailings dams since 1915 were linked to earthquake loading, which highlights the relevance of understanding the seismic response of these geostructures.
Abstracts from the 2017–2018 Mineral Deposits Studies Group meeting
Published in Applied Earth Science, 2018
L. Santoro, St. Tshipeng Yav, E. Pirard, A. Kaniki, G. Arfè, N. Mondillo, M. Boni, M. Joachimski, G. Balassone, A. Mormone, A. Cauceglia, N. Mondillo, G. Balassone, M. Boni, W. Robb, T. L. Smith, David Currie, Finlay Stuart, John Faithfull, Adrian Boyce, N. Mondillo, C. Chelle-Michou, M. Boni, S. Cretella, G. Scognamiglio, M. Tarallo, G. Arfè, F. Putzolu, M. Boni, N. Mondillo, F. Pirajno, N. Mondillo, C. Chelle-Michou, M. Boni, S. Cretella, G. Scognamiglio, M. Tarallo, G. Arfè, Saltanat Aitbaeva, Marina Mizernaya, Boris Dyachkov, Andrew J Martin, Iain McDonald, Christopher J MacLeod, Katie McFall, Hazel M Prichard, Gawen R T Jenkin, B. Kennedy, I. McDonald, D. Tanner, L. Longridge, A. M. Borst, A. A. Finch, H. Friis, N. J. Horsburgh, P. N. Gamaletsos, J. Goettlicher, R. Steininger, K. Geraki, Jonathan Cloutier, Stephen J. Piercey, Connor Allen, Craig Storey, James Darling, Stephanie Lasalle, A. Dobrzanski, L. Kirstein, R. Walcott, I. Butler, B. Ngwenya, Andrew Dobrzanski, Simon Howard, Lore Troalen, Peter Davidson, Rachel Walcott, Drew Drummond, Jonathan Cloutier, Drew Drummond, Adrian Boyce, Robert Blakeman, John Ashton, Eva Marquis, Kathryn Goodenough, Guillaume Estrade, Martin Smith, E. Zygouri, S. P. Kilias, T. Zack, I. Pitcairn, E. Chi Fru, P. Nomikou, A. Argyraki, M. Ivarsson, Adrian A. Finch, Anouk M. Borst, William Hutchison, Nicola J. Horsburgh, Tom Andersen, Siri Simonsen, Hamidullah Waizy, Norman Moles, Martin Smith, Steven P. Hollis, Julian F. Menuge, Aileen L. Doran, Paul Dennis, Brett Davidheiser-Kroll, Alina Marca, Jamie Wilkinson, Adrian Boyce, John Güven, Steven P. Hollis, Julian F. Menuge, Aileen L. Doran, Stephen J. Piercey, Mark R. Cooper, J. Stephen Daly, Oakley Turner, Brian McConnell, Hannah S. R. Hughes, Hannah S. R. Hughes, Magdalena M. Matusiak-Małek, Iain McDonald, Ben Williamson, James Williams, Guy Dishaw, Harri Rees, Roger Key, Simon Bate, Andy Moore, Katie McFall, Iain McDonald, Dominque Tanner, Manuel Keith, Karsten M. Haase, Daniel J. Smith, Reiner Klemd, Ulrich Schwarz-Schampera, Wolfgang Bach, Sam J Walding, Gawen RT Jenkin, Daniel James, David Clark, Lisa Hart-Madigan, Robin Armstrong, Jamie Wilkinson, Gawen RT Jenkin, Hugh Graham, Daniel J Smith, Andrew P Abbott, David A Holwell, Eva Zygouri, Robert C Harris, Christopher J Stanley, Hannah L.J. Grant, Mark D. Hannington, Sven Petersen, Matthias Frische, Fei Zhang, Ben J. Williamson, Hannah Hughes, Joshua Smiles, Manuel Keith, Daniel J. Smith, Chetan Nathwani, Robert Sievwright, Jamie Wilkinson, Matthew Loader, Daryl E. Blanks, David A. Holwell, W.D. Smith, J.R. Darling, D.S. Bullen, R.C. Scrivener, Aileen L. Doran, Steven P. Hollis, Julian F. Menuge, John Güven, Adrian J. Boyce, Oakley Turner, Sam Broom-Fendley, Aoife E Brady, Karen Hudson-Edwards, Oakley Turner, Steve Hollis, Sean McClenaghan, Aileen Doran, John Güven, Emily K. Fallon, Richard Brooker, Thomas Scott
Porphyry- and porphyry-skarn-type deposits constitute a major source of the world's Cu, Mo, Pb, Zn, Ag and Au. They share many characteristics such as their common association with calc-alkaline porphyritic plutons (Sillitoe 2010; Meinert 1992). How porphyry-type and exoskarn deposits form is relatively well understood but two questions remain: (1) why do some calc-alkaline systems produce endoskarn- rather than porphyry-style mineralisation; and (2) why are some plutons poorly mineralised or ‘barren’. The aim of this study is to address these questions and develop mineralogical and geochemical exploration criteria for porphyry- and porphyry-endoskarn-type deposits. This will be based on a case study in the Daye district of China, the second largest mineral district in the Late Mesozoic Metallogenic Belt, both in terms of historical production and reserves. More than 90% of its Cu-Fe-Au-Mo ores are hosted in adakite-like intrusive rocks or along their contacts with Early Triassic marine carbonate rocks (Zhai et al. 1996). Many porphyry and porphyry-related skarn deposits have been documented such as the Tongshankou porphyry skarn Cu-Mo deposit, Fengshandong porphyry Cu deposit and Tieshan Fe-Cu skarn deposit (Zhai et al. 1996).
Beneficiation of Lead-Zinc Ores – A Review
Published in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review, 2022
Aryasuta Nayak, M. S. Jena, N. R. Mandre
Porphyry deposits are bulk-tonnage, low- to medium-grade mineral deposits that are originated from magmatic intrusions. Typical porphyry deposits are recognized for containing Cu, Cu-Au, and Cu-Mo. Nevertheless, some porphyry-type W-Mo sub-class of deposits may also contain significant amounts of Pb and Zn (Mudd, Jowitt and Werner 2017).