STAGE 4: MINE OPERATION
A mine is in operation when people and equipment are actually extracting minerals from the earth. After extraction, the minerals are processed into metalsMetals: one of more than a 100 basic earth elements, grouped under minerals. Includes iron, lead, zinc, and copper., non-metalsNon-Metals: one of more than a 100 basic earth elements, grouped under minerals. Includes coal, asbestos, gems, gravel., or industrial mineral productsIndustrial Mineral Products: non-metallic, non-fuel minerals used in the chemical and manufacturing industries. Examples are asbestos, gypsum, salt, graphite, mica, gravel, building stone, and talc.. In addition to the production and processing of minerals, mine operations involve hiring, training, commissioningCommissioning: testing to see if a mine or part of the mine performs as intended, and is ready for operation., and expansionExpansion: increasing the area or size of a mine or exploration area. Expansion may trigger a new environmental assessmentEnvironmental Assessment: a written report, compiled prior to a production decision that examines the effects that proposed mining activities will have on the natural surroundings...
Mining is of two types: surface (often called “open pit” or “open cast”) and underground. Surface mining removes a thin layer of overburdenOverburden: materials above the ore deposit that have to be removed before the ore can be extracted. to expose and extract rock that contains marketable minerals (oreOre: the naturally-occurring material (rock) from which minerals are extracted through breaking down and processing. ). The costs of surface mining are relatively low and can bring about mass production. The deeper the ore deposits, the more a company must use underground mining to extract them. Some projects start off with surface mining and then go underground as the deposit gets deeper. Surface mining can be highly mechanized and require relatively few employees. Not surprisingly this method has a better safety record than underground mining.
Small or large, a mine involves four main kinds of work: 1) excavation of the ore, 2) processing of the ore, 3) storage and management of waste, and 4) a range of supporting services.
The excavation is where people and equipment move the earth and remove the ore.
The processing plant or “mill” crushes and screens the ore to separate its marketable minerals from the material that is not marketable (waste rockWaste Rock: barren rock or mineralized material that is too low in gradeGrade: the quantity and quality of metals, diamonds or other minerals. to be economically processed. ). If there is more than one mineral in the ore, the mill separates them from one another as well. Some mines have a mill on site. Others haul the ore elsewhere to be processed. A smelterSmelter: Where ores are processed (using heat) to produce metals. may be the next step in processing. Smelting is the melting or fusing of the ore in order to separate out the metallic parts. Smelters may be built near or at the mine site but often they are located someplace else.
Waste storage is needed for waste rock from the excavation and for the material thrown out by a mill after processing (the tailingsTailings: waste material from an ore processing mill, the leftovers after most of the valuable minerals have been extracted.).
Supporting services include anything necessary for the people and equipment involved in excavation, processing, and waste storage. Repair shops, labs for testing the quality of the ore, change rooms, living quarters, warehouses, and offices are all examples of supporting services.
A mine can operate for several years or several decades. The length of its operating life depends on how much mineral the rock contains (its gradeGrade: the quantity and quality of metals, diamonds or other minerals.) and on the selling price of the mineral. As that price rises, lower grade rock may become worth mining. As the selling price of the mineral falls, only high-grade rock is worth mining. So the quantity of ore at a mine (the ore bodyOre Body: a mineralized mass whose characteristics and economic limits have been examined.) grows and shrinks as mineral prices change. The ore body also grows and shrinks as the costs of mining it change.
Revenue from a mine can run from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars.
Acts and Regulations
At this stage, provincial or territorial legislation requires that a mining company get a quarry permit to extract and remove topsoil, sand, gravel, or rock from a pit or site. The permit specifies how much and what type of material may be taken.
Benefits and Opportunities
A mine’s Operation StageOperation Stage: stage in mining in which the metal or mineral is extracted from the ground and processed on site or off-site. offers a number of longer-term opportunities and benefits, especially in downstreamDownstream: downstream business refer to suppliers of products and services such as exploration, production, processing, product development, technical services, marketing and sales that supply the mine but are not owned by the mine. businesses. Whether Aboriginal communities can capture them will depend in part on the details of the SEPA they negotiated earlier, their determination to see it implemented, and their capacity to negotiate solid Joint VenturesJoint Venture: commonly, a business to which two or more parties contribute the essential land, capitalCapital: cash, property, equipment, services, and contracts or leases., and services, in return for a share in its ownership and control. (Note: the Joint Venture is very strictly defined under Canadian law.) (see Module 6.) The community must ensure that the mining company makes good on the terms to which it agreed. (See Module 7 for issues in implementationImplementation: the carrying out or execution of an agreementAgreement: any explicit, signed document that is negotiated and includes mutual concessions or limitations placed on both sides. Examples are Negotiation AgreementsNegotiation Agreement: an early agreement in the mining process, likely to occur in the Exploration StageExploration Stage: the whole range of activity from searching for and developing mineral deposits., which would outline the basis of the relationship between the Aboriginal group and the mining company and how the relationship will evolve if the mine moves forward. , Exploration Cooperation Benefit Agreements, Socio-Economic Participation AgreementsSocio-Economic Participation Agreements (SEPAs): private, confidential contracts between Aboriginal communities and resource developers, like mining companies. SEPAs specify how the communities that will be affected by the development of a resource will also benefit from that development. Many SEPAs include terms about the employment and training of Aboriginal people, compensationCompensation: something (such as money) given or received as payment or reparation (as for a service or loss or injury). payments, protection of the environment, and profit-sharing. SEPAs are often called Impact Benefits Agreements (IBAs) and Cooperation Benefit Agreements (CBAs), and other names. The Aboriginal Mining Guide calls them all SEPAs.., decision, or plan. and monitoringMonitoring: the act of observing something and often keeping a record of it. People monitor mining activities or impactsImpacts: the effect or impression of one thing on another such as the impact of a mining project on the life of an Aboriginal community. in order to determine their effect on the land, resources, and communities..)
How many benefits the community captures also depends on the ability of members to qualify for the jobs. The explanations of the previous four stages have noted a variety of job opportunities. The following table shows how these opportunities break down in terms of skill and education requirements: entry-level, semi-skilled, skilled and professional. Additional education and training programs may be necessary to increase the job options of community members.