ϖ MINERALES"DE

TITANIO

TITANIO

RUTILO

RUTILO

ILMENITA

 MINERALES DE

 ALUMINIO

VIETNAM

Vietnam produces rubies as good as anything from Burma. But the machinations and intrigue surrounding the gem business in that country have left this potential largely unexploited.

http://www.ruby-sapphire.com/vietnamese_rubies.htm

Like ruby mines in Thailand and Cambodia, bulldozers are used to excavate the land. The earth is then forced into a separation jig by the use of water cannons. Once in the jig, the heavies (higher density minerals) are sorted by hand to remove the rubies. Nominally-illegal pit mining is also carried out throughout the district, mainly on the fringes of the m e c h a n i z e d m i n e s .

Coupled substitution

ϖ  Corundum (Al203)"

ϖ  Fe2+ and Ti4+ substitute for 2Al3+ (makes"sapphire).

ϖ " Cr3+ makes Ruby ϖ  Both elements are in octahedral sites"

‘

SOIL TYPES Laterite (“oxisol”)

Hydrated Al and Fe silicates A, B, C Horizons difficult to distinguish Intense leaching – high rainfall = tropics Bauxite – Al(OH)3. Intense Tropical

Weathering

!ate%itas  al*min-­‐sas  ⎝  .a*/itas  

Bauxita  de  Australia    

Bauxita  de  Venezuela    

Produccion de Aluminio ϖ  La producción de una tonelada de Al requiere de"

hasta 16.000KW de energía electrica para producir una tonelada de Al

ϖ  Esto es principalmente en la reducción de Al2O3 que"es reducida a Al + CO2

The Problem: Aluminum can waste is growing

billion cans

50.7 50

1970e

33.8 40

1972 1974

30 24.8

1976 1978

20

1980

10 2.7

1982 1984 -

1986 1988

1990: 594,420 tons

…a  28%  increase    

2001:  759,625    

1990

Graph  prepared  using  data  from  the  Aluminum  AssociaEon  and  the  U.S.  Department  of  Commerce.    1970  is  a  CRI  esEmate.    

tons    

1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2001

•  Minerales de

Manganeso

CRIPTOMELANO +2 +4 K1-2(Mn ,Mn )8O16xH2O

Strip-mining por manganeso, Sur Africa

S-­‐*%ce:  Photograph  courtesy  USGS  Photo  Library,  Denver,  CO.  

Distribucion de nodulos de Mn en el suelo marino

Source:  Data  from  G.R.  Heath,  “Manganese  Nodules:  Unanswered  QuesEons,”  Oceanus  25,  Vol.  25,  No.  3,  pp.  37-­‐41.  1982.    

Copyright  ©  Woods  Hole  Oceanographic  Ins7tute.    

Introduction ϖ First discovered by the HMS"

Challenger expedition in 1873

ϖ Resemble metallic snowballs"

ϖ Found in all the major ocean"basins

ϖ  Also known as ferromanganese"or polymetallic nodules

Composition ϖ  Manganese dioxide average 30 percent by"

weight

ϖ  Iron oxide average 20 percent by weight"

ϖ  Other elements average less than 2 percent"by weight

ϖ  Fragments serves as a nucleus"

ϖ  Nucleus made of carbonates, phosphates,"zeolites, clays, and silicas

Origin ϖ  Deep-ocean water lacks significant"

quantities of manganese or iron

ϖ  Three possible sources of the"manganese and iron ϖ  Weathering of volcanic material on the ocean"

floor ϖ  High concentrations of manganese and iron in"

hydrothermal waters at spreading centers ϖ  Runoff from land"

ϖ  Purely chemical or bacterial by-product"

ϖ  Bacteria using manganese and iron"oxidation in their metabolic process theory

Manganese Nodules:

Future Deep Sea Mining ?