This document discusses mineral resources and how they are found and mined. It describes four groups of mineral deposits including energy resources like fossil fuels and renewable resources. It explains techniques for mineral exploration and the two main types of mining: surface mining like strip mining and open-pit mining, and underground mining methods like room-and-pillar and shrinkage stopping. Key factors that affect mineral availability are also outlined.

1. MINERAL RESOURCES
(FINDING AND MINING MINERALS)

2. Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, you should
be able to:
• describe how ore minerals are found and
mined; and
• differentiate the two types of mining
• Locate all mining areas in the Phillipines

3. FOUR GROUPS OF
MINERAL DEPOSITS
• Mineral deposits are aggregates of
minerals present in high concentration.
Regardless of whether it has high
economic value or none, an accumulation
of minerals are still considered mineral
deposits.
• However, when a mineral deposit is
economically valuable, it is called an ore
deposit.
• Mineral deposits can be categorized into
four groups: energy resources, metal
resources, industrial mineral
resources, and essential resources.

4. FOUR GROUPS OF MINERAL DEPOSITS
Energy Resources
• The use of energy resources in a rational manner through
energy conservation measures leads to stabilization of the rate
of growth of energy consumption, which is beneficial for both
sustainability and the environment.
• Fossil energy resources are obtained from dead plant and
animal deposits created over the long history of the planet.
These resources are vast, but limited, and are not renewable.
Until recently fossil fuels have provided for the majority of
humanity’s energy demands. These resources mainly include

5. FOUR GROUPS OF MINERAL DEPOSITS
Energy Resources
• It is a non-renewable energy source because it is not
an inexhaustible energy source nor does it regenerate
at the same rate at which it is consumed.
• Fossil fuels are formed from organic substances that
have accumulated in the earth's subsoil. These
substances can be remains of plants, animals and
other living things. Over the years, millions of years,
they undergo certain physical and chemical
transformations until they reach the point where they
become components of which it is easy to convert
them into energy: fossil energy.

6. FOUR GROUPS OF MINERAL DEPOSITS
• Renewable energy resources are forms of energy that are
naturally replenished on our planet. Examples of
traditional renewable resources are hydropower and
biomass (e.g., plant fuels such as wood traditionally have
been used throughout history, mostly for heating). Modern
renewable resources include wind, wave, tidal, solar, and
geothermal. Some forms of fuels created from biomass
(plants and animals) also fall under this category.

7. Coal
Coal was the first major fossil fuel to be used in industry, especially. Coal was
the fuel that allowed the industrial revolution.
Carbon is formed by decomposing plant matter. The pressure
and temperature to which the organic particles in the underground layers are
subjected cause them to transform into coal.
Oil
Oil has an oily liquid texture. It is generated by marine debris that remains
deposited at the bottom of the sea. Due to the pressure and temperatures to
which they are subjected, over the years, they transform into oil.
Many derivatives can be extracted from oil to take advantage of its fossil
energy. In the refineries, the oil is transformed to obtain gasoline, diesel, and
even gases such as propane and butane.
Because, precisely because gasoline is a derivative of petroleum, cars and
thermal engines in general, are machines that use fossil energy for their
operation.

8. Natural Gas
Natural gas is made of methane. This
corresponds to the light fraction of
hydrocarbons. It is extracted from the
underground layers in the form of gas.
Fossil fuels use a type of fuel that is limited. It
is therefore a type of non- renewable
energy in the medium term (or long term
from the human point of view).

9. MINERAL EXPLORATION
• Searching for valuable ore is called mineral
exploration.
• Most ore deposits are found in mixtures with minerals
called gangue minerals or minerals that have no
commercial value. The definition of gangue is worthless rock or
mineral in which valuable minerals are found. An example of gangue is
the rock surrounding a deposit of gold. Worthless rock or other material in
which valuable minerals are found.
• The technology nowadays provides a means to search
for high quality ore without doing the actual mining.
• Various exploration techniques were used to assess ore
deposits prior to mining. These techniques
include remote sensing, geophysical
methods and geochemical methods.

10. METHODS OF MINING
• Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals from mineral
deposits.
• There are two methods of mining: surface mining and
underground mining.
• Surface mining is being used to extract ore minerals near the surface
of Earth.
• There are five types of surface mining. This includes strip mining,
open-pit mining, dredging, mountaintop removal mining, and
highwall mining.
• Underground mining is used to extract the rocks, minerals, and other
precious stones that can be found deep beneath Earth’s surface
• This type of mining involves several methods such as room-and-
pillar mining, shrinkage stopping, and vertical crater retreat (VCR).

11. METHODS OF MINING
• What Does Strip Mining Mean?
• Strip mining is a mineral-extraction process in which a layer or
seam of undesired material (called “overburden”) is removed from
the surface of an area to allow efficient access to a desired
material existing underneath the layer being stripped. As the
process suggests, it is a form of surface mining, and it is primarily
used to extract material that lays relatively close to the surface.
• There are two types of strip-mining approaches. The first and most
common approach is referred to as area mining; it is used on fairly
flat terrain and involves the removal of long strips (potentially
hundreds of meters) at once. In this approach, the overburden
removed from each new strip is deposited into the excavated area
left by the previous strip. The second approach, called contour
mining, is used on hilly terrain and involves stripping land in a
manner that mirrors its topography.

12. METHODS OF MINING
STRIP MINING

13. METHODS OF MINING
OPEN-PIT MINING - Open-pit mining, also known as
opencast mining, is a surface mining technique that
extracts minerals from an open pit in the ground. Open-
pit mining is the most common method used throughout
the world for mineral mining and does not require
extractive methods or tunnels. This surface mining
technique is used when mineral or ore deposits are found
relatively close to the surface of the earth. Open-pits are
sometimes called ‘quarries’ when they produce building

14. METHODS OF MINING
OPEN-PIT MINING

15. METHODS OF MINING
• Dredging
• Underwater excavation is called dredging. Dredging is the
process by which a water body is deepened. In simple terms,
dredging means removal of material from the bottom of a water
body. Removal of sediment or other material from an aquatic
area for the purpose of deepening the area, obtaining fill
material, or maintaining existing structure is known as dredging.
Dredging takes place to maintain the depth in existing ports,
harbors and channels to provide ready and safe passage for
commercial and recreational vessels. Dredging is done to create
new or deeper access or berths for vessels. This means
deepening and widening of channels and anchorages as well as
the excavation of basins and marinas from areas of previously

16. METHODS OF MINING
DREDGING

17. METHODS OF MINING
• Mountaintop Removal Mining
• Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), frequently referred to
as mountaintop mining/valley fills (MTM/VF), is a type of
surface mining that entails great topographic change to
the summit or summit crest of a mountain. It is most
intimately related with coal mining in the Appalachian
Mountains, situated in the eastern United States. The
method entails the taking out of up to 1,000 vertical feet
of overstrains to expose underlying coal seams. The
overburden is frequently scraped in the contiguous

18. METHODS OF MINING
MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVING MINING

19. METHODS OF MINING
• High Wall Mining Technology • Highwall Mining is
a remotely controlled mining method, which extracts
coal from the face of a coal seam under a highwall in a
surface mine, which has reached the final highwall
position due to uneconomic stripping ratios Or due to
local constraints which limit further surface mining.

20. METHODS OF MINING
HIGHWALL MINING

21. METHODS OF MINING
• Underground mining is used to
extract the rocks, minerals, and
other precious stones that can be
found deep beneath Earth’s surface
• This type of mining involves
several methods such as room-
and-pillar mining, shrinkage
stopping, and vertical crater retreat
(VCR).

22. METHODS OF MINING
• The most common mining system is room-and-pillar. In
this system a series of parallel drifts are driven, with
connections made between these drifts at regular
intervals. When the distance between connecting drifts
is the same as that between the parallel drifts, then a
loading, developed in association with room-and-pillar
mining. The oldest of the basic underground methods,
room-and-pillar mining grew naturally out of the need
to recover more coal as mining operations became
deeper and more expensive.

23. METHODS OF MINING
ROOM-AND-PILLAR MINING

24. METHODS OF MINING
• Shrinkage stopping is a vertical stoping
method, conducted in a vertical or near-
vertical plane, and at an angle greater than
the angle of repose of the broken ore. A
defining characteristic of shrinkage
stoping is that most of the blasted
(broken) ore remains in the stope to
support the hanging wall and footwall.

25. METHODS OF MINING
SHRINKAGE STOPPING

26. FACTORS AFFECTING MINERAL
AVAILABILITY
• Geologic factors that affect abundance of mineral
deposits are geological origin of the area, presence
or absence of volcano, and age of the geologic
structure.
• Economic factors include the costs in getting the
supply such as engineering, mineral extraction, and
processing and costs for coping with the demand
such as commodity prices, land tenure, taxation,
and other legal policies.

27. KEY POINTS
• Mineral deposits are aggregates of minerals present in high
concentration. When it is economically valuable, it is called ore deposit.
• Mineral deposits can be categorized into four groups: energy resources,
industrial mineral resources, and essential resources.
• Searching for valuable ore is called mineral exploration.
• Techniques used for mineral exploration include remote sensing,
geochemical methods.
• There are two types of mining -- surface and underground mining.
extract ore minerals near the surface of the earth while underground
rocks, minerals, and other precious stones that can be found deep
• Mineral availability is affected by several factors such as geologic,
factors.