МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ
СИБИРСКИЙ ФЕДЕРАЛЬНЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ
Gold mining
Учебное пособие по английскому языку
для самостоятельной работы студентов
специальности 130400.65 «Горное дело»
Авторы:
В.И.Щепелева
В.Е.Кисляков
А.А.Гузеев
Красноярск
ИФиЯК, СФУ
2014
УДК 42
ББК 81.432.1
Учебно-методическое пособие состоит из 8 разделов, объединенных единой тематикой, для обучения чтению технической литературы, активизации грамматических структур, специальной лексики, развитию навыков профессиональной коммуникации.
Пособие предназначено для практических занятий по курсу «Профессиональный английский язык» и самостоятельной работы студентов специальности 130400.65 «Горное дело», и аспирантов.
Пособие предназначено для студентов и аспирантов горных специальностей, обладающих знаниями английского языка не ниже уровня В1. Целью данного учебно-методического пособия является развитие навыков чтения профессиональных текстов горной тематики, активизация лексики, совершенствование коммуникативных навыков устной и письменной речи.
Пособие состоит из 8 разделов, каждый их которых состоит из предтекстовых заданий (Pre-reading), активного словаря (Vocabulary), текстов (Reading), заданий на поверку понимания (Comprehension check), грамматических заданий, а также заданий на развитие навыков устной и письменной речи (Language review, Speaking).
Тексты, содержащиеся в каждом из разделов, относятся к разному уровню, что позволяет преподавателю индивидуально подходить к выбору материала для изучения в аудитории или организации самостоятельной работы студентов. Тематика текстов и содержание многих заданий стимулирует обучающихся к поиску новой информации, связанной с современными проблемами горной промышленности, и к желанию высказаться и обсудить эти проблемы на английском языке.
CONTENTS
UNIT 1 3
PLACER DEPOSITS 3
UNIT 2 15
GOLD ORE 15
UNIT 3 52
DRAGING 52
UNIT 4 74
DIAMOND MINING 74
UNIT 5 86
SLUICING 86
UNIT 6 107
ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS 107
UNIT 7 115
HYDRAULIC MINING 115
UNIT 8 139
UNDERGROUND MINING 139
UNIT 1
PLACER DEPOSITS
PRE-READING
Exercise 1.
Gold plays an important role in today’s life. Give some facts about it and the history of gold mining?
Which countries have the richest gold reserves?
Exercise 2. Match the words and their meaning:
-
to separate
to dig
to estimate
to contain
to spread
to conduct
remove earth or mineral
have within, include
set apart, divide into components
stretch, distribute over a surface
transmit, serve as a medium
calculate approximately
READING
Exercise 3. Read the text and learn more about gold mining.
Text 1. Some facts from the history of gold mining
Gold was one of the first precious metals mined because it commonly appears in the ground in its natural form. Ancient civilizations such as the ancient Egyptians used gold to decorate their tombs and temples, and gold artifacts dating back more than 5,000 years have been found in what is now modern Egypt. It is thought the gold used to make these ancient objects was obtained from the upper Nile, Red Sea and Nubian Desert regions.
The Californian Gold Rush of the mid 1800s produced over 137 million ounces of gold, valued at over $50 billion by today's standards. It all started with the discovery of gold in 1848 at present-day Sacramento by saw mill owner James Suter. Word quickly spread--in the four years that followed, California's population grew from a mere 14,000 to 223,000. In 1854 the largest ever gold nugget was discovered at Carson Hill above the Stanislaus River in California. Weighing a massive 195 pounds, it was valued at $43,534 at the time of its discovery.
The most popular methods of obtaining gold during the gold rush were by panning and sluicing. Both practices tapped in to placer deposits, which are usually found in streambeds or deposits of sand and gravel. Panning uses a sieve-like instrument to separate small gold deposits from other minerals, often in riverbeds. Sluicing channels gravel laden water from a stream over a series of sieves and riffles to separate any gold from unwanted minerals or materials. In 1869 the term "Mother Lode" was coined to describe the gold reserves of five Californian counties; Mariposa, Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador and El Dorado. However, more gold was subsequently sourced from Placer, Nevada, Sierra and Plumas counties.
The modern hard rock method of mining gold produces most of the world's gold today. It uses heavy machinery to dig down to veins of gold encased in rock beneath the Earth's surface. The deepest gold mine in North America is located in Quebec, Canada. The deepest shaft of the mine reaches over 2.48 miles (4 kilometers) underground and is predicted to be able to access over 12.5 million ounces of gold.
The United States is estimated to have a total of $298.36 billion worth of gold reserves, the most in the world. The United States Bullion Depository, otherwise known as Fort Knox in Kentucky, contains the majority of America's gold reserves. The remainder of the gold is spread between the Philadelphia Mint, the Denver Mint, the West Point Bullion Depository and the San Francisco Assay Office. In total, United States holds over 8,946.9 tons of gold.
The chemical symbol for gold is Au, from the Latin word "aurum" meaning "shining dawn." Gold is a highly malleable metal capable of being hammered into extremely thin sheets, some of which are so thin that light can pass through. Gold is also an excellent conductor of heat and electricity and is used in to make some types of home electrical cable. (http://www.ehow.com/about_6400170_gold-mining.html)
COMPREHENSION CHECK
Exercise 4. Are the statements true or false? Correct the false statement using the facts from text1.
Gold does not conduct electricity.
The deepest gold mine is located in North America.
In Latin gold means daybreak.
Due to the Gold Rush the population of California decreased.
The United States gold reserves are about 9 million tons.
VOCABULARY
placer deposit – россыпь
gravel – гравий, золотоносный песок
sand – песок
auriferous – золотоносный
to mill – измельчать
to trace – прослеживать
vein – жила, жильная залежь
lode – пласт, жила (более крупного размера)
replacement vein (deposit) – жила (залежь) замещения
to outcrop – выходить на поверхность осаждения
precipitating agents– агенты осаждения
secular uplift – вековое поднятие
weathering – выветривание
stream bed – русло реки
flaky gold – чешуйчатое, пластинчатое золото
gravel bar – наносы песка
gorge – узкая долина, нагромождение
bedrook – коренная подстилающая порода (плотик)
compact clay – плотная глина
county – графство, сельская местность
slate, schist – сланец
limestone – известняк
primary deposit – коренная залежь
flour gold – пылевидное золото
fineness – мелкозернистость
diamond – алмаз
send diamond – алмазный песок
carat – карат, единица веса драгоценных металлов, 0,2 г
quartz – кварц
embedded – вкрапленный
nugget – самородок
garnetiferous – гранатосодержащий
to overlain – перекрывать
alluvium – аллювий, наносные образования
overburden – вскрыша, верхний слой над залежью (торфа)
octahedron – восьмигранник
dodecahedron – двенадцатигранник
Exercise 5. Find the meaning of the word combinations in the dictionary and try to remember them:
auriferous material; gold bearing rock; stream bed; fine and flaky gold; rivers of moderate gradient, gravel bar; types of bedrock; primary deposit; flour gold; sand diamond; diamondiferous gravel; nuggets of gold; the upper reaches of the valley.
Exercise 6. Fill in the blanks with one suitable word:
Gold placers or deposits such as gravel and ... that contain notable concentration of auriferous material, all result from the slow ... and concentration processes. Gold may be dissolved and carried below by means of natural ... processes. Because gold is six or more times ... than ordinary rock, the liberated particles of gold will concentrate ... the bottom and come to rest where the stream gradient … .
READING
Exercise 7. Read the text below looking for the main ideas concerning the origin and characteristics of gold and diamond placers.
Text 2. GENERAL ORIGIN AND FEATURES OF GOLD
AND DIAMOND PLACERS
Gold placers, or deposits such as gravel and sand that contain notable, concentrations of auriferous material, all result from the slow milling and concentration processes incident to the natural erosion of pre-existing gold-bearing rocks. The origin of most gold placers is traceable directly to auriferous veins, lodes, or replacement deposits that in many instances were not of high grade.
Placers are not apt to form from gold - bearing outcrops that contain notable manganese, chlorides, and iron sulphides, unless precipitating agents such as сalcite, siderite, rho-dochrosite, pyrrhotite, chalcocite, nepheline, olivine, or leucite are abundent, or unless erosion is very rapid. In other words, the gold may be dissolved and carried below by means of natural chlorination processes that are established when solutions containing chlorides, together with sulphuric acid from the oxidation of iron sulphides, act upon manganese dioxide; but this process is neutralized if precipitating agents are present, and may be ineffective if erosion is very rapid.
The best conditions for the concentration of gold into placers are found in moderately hilly regions where deep secular decay of the rocks, has been followed by slight uplift. As the rocks of a region break up and decay under weathering, rainfall washes away most of the resultant detritus, grinds it by striking and rubbing it together and by dragging it along the stream bed, and liberates most of the included gold. Because gold is six or more times heavier than ordinary rock, the liberated particles of gold will concentrate along the bottom and come to rest where the stream gradient lessens. The coarser particles will settle down first, but the fine and flaky gold will be carried farther along. The best placer concentration results probably obtain in rivers of moderate (about 30 feet per mile) gradient, under nicely balanced conditions of erosion and deposition. Except where gravel bars may form in certain slower reaches, very little concentration will take place in the gorges. Such bars, through further deepening of the channel, may be left as elevated benches.
Most of the gold in a placer usually rests on or near the bedrock. Occasionally, the coarser gold is scattered through the lower 4 to 20 feet, or the gravel may be richest a few feet above bedrock, but never are the values equally distributed vertically. Among the best types of bedrock are compact clays, somewhat clayey, decomposed rock, and slates or schists whose partings form natural riffles. Smooth, hard material does not catch or retain the gold effectively. Gold works down for some distance into the most minute crevices of hard rock, for I to 5 feet into the pores of soft rock, and for many feet along the solution cavities of limestones.
Crystallized gold, which is sometimes found in placers, indicates close proximity of the primary deposit. There is probably no authenticated case of crystallized gold occurring in gravels that have been transported far, and that it is difficult to believe the assumption that such crystals are formed by secondary processes in the gravels. The high insolubility of gold in most surface waters is demonstrated by the fact that flake or flour gold, which often is in 2,000 particles per one cent's worth, may be carried by rivers of moderate gradient for hundreds of miles.
The fineness or parts of unalloyed gold per thousand, of placer gold is usually greater than that of the vein gold of the same district. This increase in purity, which is proportional to the distance that the placer material has been transported, and to the decreasing size of the grains, has been shown to be due to the solution and abstraction of silver by surface waters.