Mining From: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2007

Exercise 1. Read the following text “Mining” and match the beginnings of the sentences with their ends:

1. Mining is extraction of solid …

2. These resources include ores, which contain commercially valuable amounts of metals, …

3. The search for and discovery of mineral deposits …

4. When a mineral deposit is found, it is studied to determine …

5. If so, the deposit can be worked or …

a. … is called prospecting, or exploration.

b. … extracted by a variety of mining methods.

c. … such as iron and aluminum; precious stones, such as diamonds; building stones, such as granite; and solid fuels, such as coal and oil shale.

d. … mineral resources from the earth.

e. … if it can be mined profitably.

Exercise 2. Practice reading the following expressions and translate them into Russian:

precious stones, such as diamonds; commercially valuable amounts of metals; loading and hauling to the mill; loading the holes with explosives; a typical mining cycle; a size suitable for loading and hauling to the mill; prohibitively expensive; multiple drill units; lung disease; steel supports; the exposed roof surface; ion exchange; funnel-shaped surface excavation; sulfurous dust clouds; unregulated landfills for hazardous wastes

Exercise 3. Read the following text “Surface Mining Methods” and fill in the crossword below with the verbs from it according to the following definitions, all verb in the crossword are given in the infinitive forms (if you fill in all words correctly you’ll be able to read a word instead of numbers in vertical):

1. to carry on, to keep up or to preserve

2. to shatter, to crack or to split into several parts

3. to tread or to pace on the ground; to walk

4. to drag or to pull the cargo

5. to transfer or to shift something away

6. to burden on the vehicle with the cargo

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Surface Mining Methods

Strip mining, open-pit (or open-cut) mining, and quarrying are the most common mining methods that start from the earth’s surface and maintain exposure to the surface throughout the extraction period. The excavation usually has stepped, or benched, side slopes and can reach depths as low as 1,500 ft (460 m). In strip mining, the soft overburden, or waste soil, overlying the ore or coal is easily removed. In open-pit mining the barren rock material over the ore body normally requires drilling and blasting to break it up for removal. A typical mining cycle consists of drilling holes into the rock in a pattern, loading the holes with explosives, or blasting agents, and blasting the rock in order to break it into a size suitable for loading and hauling to the mill, concentrator, or treatment plant.

Exercise 4. Read the following text “Underground Mining Methods” and decide true or false are the following statements:

Underground Mining Methods

Under certain circumstances surface mining can become prohibitively expensive and underground mining may be considered. A major factor in the decision to operate by underground mining rather than surface mining is the strip ratio, or the number of units of waste material in a surface mine that must be removed in order to extract one unit of ore. Once this ratio becomes large, surface mining is no longer attractive. The objective of underground mining is to extract the ore below the surface of the earth safely, economically, and with as little waste as possible. The entry from the surface to an underground mine may be through an adit, or horizontal tunnel, a shaft, or vertical tunnel, or a declined shaft. A typical underground mine has a number of roughly horizontal levels at various depths below the surface, and these spread out from the access to the surface. Ore is mined in stopes, or rooms. Material left in place to support the ceiling is called a pillar and can sometimes be recovered afterward. A vertical internal connection between two levels of a mine is called a winze if it was made by driving downward and a raise if it was made by driving upward.

A modern underground mine is a highly mechanized operation requiring little work with pick and shovel. Rubber-tired vehicles, rail haulage, and multiple drill units are commonplace. In order to protect miners and their equipment much attention is paid to mine safety. Mine ventilation provides fresh air underground and at the same time removes noxious gases as well as dangerous dusts that might cause lung disease, e.g., silicosis. Roof support is accomplished with timber, concrete, or steel supports or, most commonly, with roof bolts, which are long steel rods used to bind the exposed roof surface to the rock behind it.

Statements:

1. Underground mining operates rather than surface mining.

2. The number of units of waste material in a surface mine must be removed in order to extract one unit of ore

3. Surface mining is attractive when the ratio between waste material and ore becomes large.

4. Underground mining is safer for the earth’s surface.

5. Underground mining is more expensive than strip mining.

6. There is only one entry from the surface to the underground mine.

7. Below the surface there are a number of roughly horizontal levels at various depths.

8. Pillar is the common waste rock.

9. Winze is a vertical internal connection between two levels of a mine made by driving downward.

10. Raise is a vertical internal connection between two levels of a mine made by driving downward.

11. A modern underground requires much work with pick and shovel.

12. Much attention is paid to mine safety to protect miners and their equipment.

13. Noxious gases and dangerous dusts might cause lung disease.

14. Timber is the only material which is used for roof support.

Exercise 5. Read the following text “Other Methods” and fill in the gaps with the words given below:

Other Methods

Although surface and 1 … mining are the most common techniques, there are a number of other 2 … methods. In solution mining the valuable mineral is brought into a 3 … solution by some chemical or bacteria. The resultant liquid is 4 … to the surface, where the mineral or metal is taken out of solution by precipitation or by ion 5 … (e.g., the Frasch process ). In glory-hole mining a steep-sided, funnel-shaped 6 … excavation is connected to tunnels below it. Rocks blasted off the sides of the 7 … fall into the tunnels, from which they are then removed. Gopher mining is an 8 … method still used in very small mines. Narrow, small holes are driven in order to extract the ore (e.g., gold) as cheaply as possible. In 9 … mining no excavation is involved; instead, gravel, sand, or talus (rock debris) is removed from deposits by hand, hydraulic nozzles, or dredging. The ore is separated from the 10 … by panning or sluicing.

Words:

1. – exchange

2. – old-fashioned

3. – mining

4. – surface

5. – placer

6. – underground

7. – excavation

8. – pumped

9. – waste

10. – liquid

Exercise 6. Read the text above once again and answer the following questions:

1. What are the most common mining methods that start from the earth’s surface?

2. What depth can the strip mining excavation reach?

3. Is it hard to remove the soft overburden, or waste soil in strip mining?

4. What operations are needed to remove the barren rock material in open-pit mining?

5. Why is the rock needed to be blasted?

6. What is the major factor in the decision to operate by underground mining rather than surface mining?

7. What is the objective of underground mining?

8. Are there different ways of the entry from the surface to an underground mine?

9. Where is ore mined?

10. What is pillar used for?

11. How is called a vertical internal connection between two levels of a mine made by driving downward?

12. How is called a vertical internal connection between two levels of a mine made by driving upward?

13. Does the modern underground require much work with pick and shovel?

14. What vehicles are used in the modern underground mining?

15. Why is it paid much attention to mine safety?

16. Why is mine ventilation so important?

17. What materials are used to accomplish roof support in underground mining?

18. What is the principle of solution mining?

19. What is the principle of glory-hole mining?

20. How is the ore separated from the waste?

Exercise 7. Listen to the following text “Environmental and Legal Concerns” and choose the right answer to the following questions:

1. Why can ore extraction involve many environmental concerns?

a. Ore extractions are depleted today.

b. Ore extraction disrupts the topsoil and can displace local animals and plants, and sometimes native human populations.

c. Ore extraction waste is emitted into the atmosphere in great amounts.

2. What pollutants runoff can contaminate nearby water sources?

a. carbon dioxide and sodium cyanide

b. mercury and carbon dioxide

c. mercury and sodium cyanide

3. What is the greatest drawback of abandoned strip mines?

a. They serve as the receivers of wasted waters.

b. They have often been used as unregulated landfills for hazardous wastes.

c. They spoil the view of the earth’s surface.

4. What measures have been taken to prevent pollution of land?

1. Several acts were adapted.

2. Mining works were prohibited.

3. Mining companies were punished and fined.

5. When the Mining Act that affects mining in the United States was adapted?

1. in 1972

2. in 1869

3. in 1872

6. Why the Mining Act is needed to be changed today?

1. The land is still purchased by the mining companies for very low price $2.50 per acre.

2. It was originally designed to encourage settlement of the West.

3. The ore contained in the land is of very good quality.