how do you mine copper?

Question

how do you mine copper?
what are the methods? processes?
what are its environmental impacts?

pls help

Answer 1

The mineral chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) accounts for about 50% of todays copper mine production. the major steps involved to get it to copper metal are:

1) Mining: Copper ore, in concentrations ranging from 0.29 percent to ten times that amount, is mined from open pit or underground mines.
2) Milling: The Mine ore is transported to the crushing plant where it is crushed to a size appropriate for the grinding process and then conveyed to the concentrator.
3) Concentrated: The Mine ore is transported to the crushing plant where it is crushed to a size appropriate for the grinding process and then conveyed to the concentrator.
4) Smelting: After a series of runs through furnaces, where non-copper elements are burned off or separated, the result is a 99 percent pure molten copper, know as "blister". Blister is poured into anode molds.
5) Electrorefined: In an electrolyte of sulfuric acid, copper sulfate and plating reagents, copper is transferred from an anode at the positive pole of an electric circuit to the cathode at the negative pole. The result is 99.9999 percent pure copper.
6) Processed: While some cathode can be shipped directly to customers, other can be sent to a rod plant, where it is spun into coils of 5/16" diameter continuous cast copper rod.

An alternative method is to use sulfuric acid to leach the copper form the mined ore. This is followed by solvent extraction and copper electrowinning to produce a product suitable for electrorefining.

Answer 2

Most of the copper mined in the world today comes from porphory (have to check spelling) copper deposits, these are huge igneous rock formations, that are naturaly rich in copper. However, the copper ocours in very small concentrations, perhaps just 1% or less.
The rock is blasted out frrom a working face within the quarry then loaded in trucks BIG TRUCKS! then crushed in to a powder in a mill, the powder is then put in a big tank mixed with special liquids and bubbles of air are blown through it, this is called froth flotation, the copper rich particles which differ in density to the rest of the powder float to the top this is skimmed off and sent of to be smelted and the copper removed.
Mining copper is quite bad foe the environment, it burns loads of energy, produced masses of waste, and can free up other harmfull substances that were trapped in the rock. In particular it can afect acidity level in ground water after mining has ceased.
Will T BSc FGS