3.2 Mining

• Factors influencing the occurrence and exploitation of minerals
• Methods of mineral extraction
• Case studies: limestone in Kenya, diamond in Botswana, iron ore in Australia
• Effects of mining on the environment and possible solutions
• Trends in mineral production in East Africa
• Significance of minerals to the economy of Kenya

• examine the factors influencing the occurrence and exploitation of minerals
• describe the methods used in the extraction of minerals in the world
• explore the mining of limestone in Kenya, diamond in Botswana and iron ore in Australia
• analyse the effects of mining on the environment and possible solutions
• apply statistical skills to establish trends in mineral production in East Africa
• recognise the significance of minerals to the economy of Kenya

“How can we exploit minerals sustainably?”

“Why are some mineral-rich countries wealthy and others poor?”

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1. Where minerals occur and how they are extracted
   40 min · 2 practice tasks · quiz
   What decides whether a deposit is worth mining, and the methods used to get at it.
2. Mining in practice: case studies, effects and sustainability
   40 min · 2 practice tasks · quiz
   Limestone in Kenya, diamond in Botswana, iron ore in Australia - and what mining does to land and people.
3. Metallic, non-metallic and fuel minerals
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Minerals are classified by use: metals to smelt, non-metals to process as compounds or rock, and fuels to burn.
4. How rock type decides which minerals occur
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic settings concentrate different minerals, so a geology map is a prospecting map.
5. Vulcanicity, weathering and structures that concentrate minerals
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Magma, water, faults and rivers move minerals into places a mine can actually reach.
6. Grade, quantity and depth: the first tests of a mine
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   A deposit is worth working only if it is rich enough, large enough and shallow enough at current prices.
7. Capital, technology and the cost of moving ore
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Mines need huge upfront money and a way to move heavy product; Magadi's railway and Kwale's jetty are not extras.
8. Price, power, policy and the people on the land
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   World prices, electricity, licences and community rights finish the exploitation test; fluorspar and Turkana oil show how those can stall a mine.
9. Open-cast mining and quarrying
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   When a mineral is at the surface, overburden is stripped and ore is taken in benches - cheap, fast and hard on the land.
10. Shaft and adit mining underground
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    When the mineral is deep, a shaft or a hillside adit is the only way in - expensive, dangerous and used for much of the world's gold.
11. Alluvial, drilling and solution mining
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Loose grains are washed, fluids are pumped, and some salts are dissolved - three methods that do not need a classical pit.
12. Where Kenya's minerals are
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    A working map: Magadi soda ash, Kwale titanium, Athi River and coastal limestone, western gold, Kerio fluorspar, Taita gems.
13. Soda ash at Lake Magadi
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Kenya's flagship mineral: an evaporite lake, surface working, a railway to Mombasa, glass and export earnings.
14. Gold and titanium in Kenya
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Two metallic stories: artisanal gold in the west, and a modern mineral-sands mine at Kwale.
15. Limestone and cement in Kenya
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    The curriculum case: coastal and Athi River limestone, open-cast quarrying, cement works on the rock, and Haller Park as the rehabilitation proof.
16. Diamond mining in Botswana
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Kimberlite pipes, huge open pits then underground, and a government that invested the rent - the governance case of the sub-strand.
17. Iron ore in the Pilbara, Australia
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Vast surface iron, mega open-cast, purpose-built railways and ports - transport as a precondition, not a footnote.
18. What mining does to land, water, air and people
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    A complete effects answer names pits and dumps, rivers and mercury, dust, and displacement - then matches each to a Kenyan or case example.
19. Rehabilitation, bonds and cleaner mining
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Haller Park proves land can come back; bonds, EIA, mercury-free gold and local processing are how sustainable mining is actually done.
20. East African production trends and Kenya's mineral economy
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Read a simple comparison: Tanzania leads on gold, Kenya on soda ash and titanium; then state what minerals actually do for Kenya's economy.