Rocks and Minerals
I selected rocks and minerals that are mined in throughout Colorado. Rocks and minerals can be mined underground and some of them are pit mines. I live in Western Colorado where there are several different mining operations of rocks and minerals. Gold, silver, gypsum, and marble mines. I will describe the different mining techniques, economic advantages and disadvantages, as well as how the rock or minerals are shipped.
Marble Colorado, is located in the Rocky Mountains that was incorporated in 1899. The town is the location of a historic Yule Marble quarry along the Rocky Mountains in western Colorado. Quarry operations began in the late 19th century.
The marble of the quarry is considered to be exceptional and has been used for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, sections of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Taj Mahal in India. (Foundations of Earth and Science, 2013) Marble has also been used for the civic buildings in San Francisco as well as the Equitable Building, a historically important early skyscraper in New York City in the early 1900’s.
Currently the Yule Marble Quarry is owned by Polycor, a Canadian company who purchased it in 2004. Quarry was purchased it in 2004. When the Marble is removed from the quarry, it transported by truck to be shipped all over the world for the use in statutes, buildings, and floors and counters. This marble is considered to be high-quality stone and is exported in large quantities to Europe and Asia for transformation and use throughout the world, as well as being sold into the US market. (Polycor Inc., 2013)
Rocks and Minerals
Near the Yule Marble Quarry, lays the town of Marble, a small community of about 105 people which is made up of 45 househol...
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...ion centers in California. (American Gypsum Company, 2012)
Colorado holds many other types of hard rock mines, or mineral mines, but Marble, Gold, and Gypsum are three that stand out as the three mentioned, always have a demand. The marble mined from the Yule Marble quarry in Marble, Colorado, is often contacted by such entities as the U.S. Government. Officials or Artists, hand select sections of rock, which fit the needs of burial stones in Arlington Cemetery, or a statute.
Colorado also has a rich mining history which began in about 1859 with the discovery of gold and development of new reserves, Colorado’s present day industry is a modern, innovative, safe and environmentally responsible citizen that extracts a wide variety of minerals such as; gold, Marble, and gypsum from the earth, valued at more than $2 billion each year. (Colorado Mining Association, 2007)
The Making of a Hardrock Miner written by Stephen M. Voynick, describes his own personal experiences as a hardrock miner in four different underground mines in the western United States, the Climax molybdenum mine in Colorado, Hecla Lakeshore Project a copper mine in Arizona, and two uranium mines in Wyoming. Rather than a book telling of the fortunes gained and lost, this book was about the relationships gained, but then also lost through mining. Stephen M. Voynick’s direct words and simple writing style provided a book that was an easy read and educational about mine work and safety.
For example, gold mines could be found in places like Macedonia while copper mines could found on the islands of Delos or Eretria. Also, it is important to note that bronze is a mix of tin and copper so it can not be mined directly from the earth. These metals were primarily used for the production of arms and currency during this time period. These metals were often found through underground mining, also known as deep vein mining. This type of mining was tedious and could only be done through excavation and tunnel building. These tunnels eventually emptied into galleries where ore was obtained, washed and melted. There was often a “relay of miners carrying ore out on their shoulders” while other times wheeled carts were used. Another type of mining was surface mining where ore surfaced in streams or on the ground and collected. An example of surface mining is placer deposits where streams broke up the ore and the dense pieces would settle at the bottom. The Greeks were very intelligent and could tell the “affinity for one type of metal for another” or would follow the placer deposits to the source. Because of the presence of water previously, sometimes the mine was forced to be abandoned because of the lack of control of the water. The Romans attempted to counteract this by digging drainage adits to divert water and filtering the water by percolation. Slaves would often carry the water away with
With the mining came the railroads. In December of 1878 the first train came to New Mexico, the Atchison, Topeka, and S...
In the 79 years the mines were open 1.7 million metric tons (3.75 billion pounds) of lead and 8.8 million metric tons (19.4 billion pounds) of zinc were withdrawn from the mine (2). The entire area around Tar Creek is known as the tri-state mining area. This tri-state area is a massive source of metals. This area accounted for 35% of the worldwide metal market for a decade. It also provided the majority of metals the United States used in World wars I and II (3).
Smith-Baranzini, Marlene, Richard J. Orsi, and James J. Rawls. A Golden State: Mining And Economic Development In Gold Rush California. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1999. eBook (EBSCOhost). Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
around the gulch was called Diamond City, which is located 30 miles east of Helena in
Taconite mining has become more popular ever since the rock has become rare. Taconite was once considered “waste rock,” but is currently really valuable. Since the Gogebic Iron Range has about three-fourths of all the taconite in the nation people from all over the country want to take over and start mining. Although taconite mining would do some good for the community, such as creating tons of jobs and boosting the economy for awhile, there are too many risks. Taconite mining has a negative effect on the environment and health.
...y comes from the Balcones Escarpment. Larger crushed rock from this area is used as a base layer for roads and buildings, to protect them from the shifting soils. Very pure limestone is procesed into lime, wich is then used in a wide variety of agricultural, industrial, and construction activities. Other rocks crushed for building materials include basalt, used for railroad track beds, and marble, used for fancy terrazzo floors.
It is believe that these rocks came from as far away as 1,400 miles! But we don’t know what the local people at poverty point traded in exchange for their rocks.
Arizona's minerals attracted most of the early explorers, and mining continued periodically. In 1849 a small numbers of prospectors crossed Arizona to join the California gold rush. The miners found silver, copper and gold. Copper was discovered in 1854, and mining for copper was Arizona’s primary industry until the
The dominant kind of rock in Yosemite National Park is granite. Most of the landscapes in the Yosemite area are cut from the granitic rock of the batholith, which is crystallized magma miles underground.At those kind of depths, magma is well insulated and cools very slowly, making the latter formed granite strong. Granite is often has a “black and white” appearance. The lighter-colored minerals in granite are quartz, potassium feldspar, and plagioclase feldspar, whereas the darker-colored minerals are biotite and hornblende. here are also minor amounts of other minerals, like titanite and zircon. granite has coarse grain size, angular grain shape and poorly sorted.
Marbles have been used throughout history. The Aztecs, Egyptians, Romans and the Greeks all used marbles. Marbles throughout the ages have been made from round stones, clay balls, marble, porcelain, glass and even steel. Marbles got there name from a white alabaster marble that was commonly used to create marbles. In the 1800’s, most marbles were made in Germany. This stayed the same for a century, until marbles began to fall out of style and became unpopular.
I came across many monuments in my research for this paper. I was very intrigued by monuments in New York City. Many people forget about the less talked about monuments. Such as the Flatiron Building and Gracie Mansion. Of course they are those well-known monuments as well. There is the UN building, which has been around since 1949. Penn Station is also another well-known monument. It has been around since the early 1900’s. There are many others including Grand Central Station, the George Washington Bridge, the Cathedral of St. John and Yankee Stadium just to name a few.
In our days, mining for resources is inevitable. The resources we need are valuable in everyday life. Such resources mined up are coal, copper, gold, silver, and sand. However, mining poses environmental risks that can degrade the quality of soil and water, which can end up effecting us humans if not taken care of and many of the damages are irreversible once they have occurred.