#miningmonday

We’re starting a new mini-series featuring one of our strongest collecting areas: mining in north Idaho. North Idaho mines began operation in the late 1800s and were shut down and abandoned around the mid-20th century and were primarily underground metal mines that extracted mineral ore such as lead, zinc, silver, copper, antimony, gold, and tungsten. (Fun fact: there are other types of mines such as surface mines, coal mines, petroleum and natural gas mines, and more!)

Today, we focus on life as an underground metal miner which was, at the time of these photos, a dangerous job with many hazards including poor air quality, exposure to toxic gases, equipment accidents, explosions, cave-ins, and injuries. The first photo (top) features several miners wearing an early-style ventilation mask, as underground mining required some form of ventilation. The last photo (below) depicts a funeral in Mullen, Idaho, for ten men who fell to their death after a cable broke (based on the information on the photograph, we don’t know what caused the cable to break). Prior to the 1990s, the annual deaths from mining accidents averaged 1,500 per year with tens of thousands of work-related injuries per year.[1] With the loss of life and its impact to families and mine owners, safety standards and the advancement of technology have greatly improved mining in the 21st century. Of the 352,600 miners that worked across 14,500 mines in America in 2009, only 34 miners died while on the job.

Stay tuned for next week’s post on mineral extraction!

[1] https://www.livescience.com/11173-miners-face-health-risks-good-days.html 

Happy Mining Monday! This is the end of our mini-series and so for our last post, we want to answer the inevitable question: “why should I care about mining in 2019?”

Mining is a large part of human history and modern technology. Humans have been mining stones and metals since pre-historic times and mining not only still exists in the United States and around the world today, but modern video games such as Minecraft and Factorio (among others) have become extremely popular just as simple mining games! 

Smartphones are made of many materials, including metals such as copper, gold, lead, nickel, zinc, beryllium, tantalum, coltan, and gold (which is “combined with salt to be used as plating for printed circuits) and all of these metals must be mined from the Earth as raw materials![1] Smartphone batteries, however, are made of lithium ion, which is “made out of lithium metallic oxides and carbon based materials such as graphite or coke,” but is ultimately just “a processed form of the raw material, lithium, which comes directly from the earth.” Oddly enough, lithium is “never found in a pure form, so it is sometimes extracted from a mineral called spodumene, which is found in pegmatite, a type of rock deposite that forms when magma cools slow enough for large crystals to grow.” Apparently, lithium can also be found in “petalite, another mineral that holds lithium, but the most common source comes from brine which is water with high concentrations of lithium carbonate from which lithium can be extracted from and processed into a rechargeable battery.”[2]

Our economic and social infrastructure in the United States and around the world is dependent upon the raw materials that we extract from the Earth and use to build and power machines and technologies that we use in our daily lives. Mining has also had adverse effects on our environment, and there are some raw materials that are not infinite and we could run out of at some point in the future if mining rates stagnate or increase. 

So, that’s a wrap on our Mining Monday mini-series for now! Hopefully you learned a little bit more about the history and process of mining, as well as modern-day impacts including environmental, technological, and social dependency. Come check out our mining collections to learn even more!

[1] http://www.designlife-cycle.com/cellphones

[2] http://www.designlife-cycle.com/cellphones

Happy Mining Monday! Last week, we learned about extracting raw mineral ore. This week, we’ll learn about the process of milling, which is the first of two steps required to take raw mineral ore and turn it into a usable product (the second of which is smelting, which we’ll explore next week!)

This photo features an ore grinding mill from Hercules Mining Company which operated from 1901-1924 in the Coeur d’Alene Mountains in Burke, Idaho. Milling is the process of separating “metal bearing minerals...from waste material to form a concentrate...This is often done by adding chemicals to the ore materials and running them through a series of processes. The waste from the mill, or ‘tailings,’ is then pumped to a tailings storage facility. Other techniques include gravity separation, where two or more minerals are separated by movement and the force of gravity and one or more other forces.”[1] Techniques often differ based on the material.

Stay tuned for next week’s post on smelting as we continue our mini-series on Mining!

[1] https://www.icmm.com/en-gb/metals-and-minerals/producing-metals/where-and-how-does-mining-take-place

Happy Mining Monday! So far, we’ve stayed underground to explore north Idaho metal mines. Today, we’re taking a break from the underground and coming back to the surface to see what mines look like from the outside!

Mines cannot operate just anywhere – they must be located where minerals are highly concentrated, making it lucrative to set up a mine there. Before a mine can even begin extracting, miners must explore where to mine and then develop the facilities and machinery to do so.

Mine exploration is an involved process that “involves advanced scientific techniques, including geochemical analysis of soils, or airborne surveys to measure magnetic, gravitational and electromagnetic fields, all of which help to determine if there’s a sufficient mineral deposit in that location to warrant mining. Once this preliminary investigation is carried out, rock samples are drilled and sent to a laboratory for testing.”[1]

[1] https://www.icmm.com/en-gb/metals-and-minerals/producing-metals/where-and-how-does-mining-take-place

Photos courtesy of George W. Tabor Photographs, University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives

Happy Mining Monday! Last week, we learned about smelting ore into base metals for the purpose of building technology, including the many devices that we rely on every day. This week, we’ll take a closer look at the automation side of underground metal mines. Machines, railways, hoists, and ore carts on tracks are all forms of automation designed to make the process of underground metal mining more efficient.

Mines require a lot of mechanical engineering, innovation, and science. Giant power plants transmit electricity to giant machines; ore cars, trains, and their respective metal tracks make it easier to transport large quantities of heavy and valuable materials long distances to be processed and smelted. Far from being unskilled laborers, miners and mine engineers had detailed knowledge and understanding of how to create the most efficient systems to produce valuable and useful materials, using technological innovation and scientific knowledge.

The photo above is the Northern Pacific Railway track at Black Bear Mine. The photos below are as follows, in order: (1) caged lift with a man inside at Morning Mine in Mullan, Idaho; (2) ore car in the Coeur d’Alene Hardware Company in Wallace, Idaho; (3) power plant at the Hecla Mine in Burke, Idaho; (4) unidentified machinery at Rex Mine in Bradyville, Idaho; (5) unidentified machinery at unidentified mine; (6) lead casting machine at unidentified mine; (7) unidentified facility at unidentified mine. 

Photos courtesy of George W. Tabor Photographs and the Barnard-Stockbridge Photograph Collection, University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives

Happy Mining Monday! Last week, we learned about the dangers posed to an underground metal miner. This week, we’ll focus on the process of mineral extraction, which is what mining is all about! Extracting raw materials from the Earth supports much of our economic and social infrastructure (smartphones, for example, are made of metals such as copper, gold, lead, nickel, zinc, beryllium, tantalum, coltan, gold, and lithium which must be mined from the Earth as raw ore and processed into usable materials).[1]

Mineral extraction involves removing surface layers of “waste rock” to access and extract rock that includes the desired minerals. Underground mines consist of tunnels and shafts in order to reach deep pockets of mineral ore. The rocks that include the desired mineral ore are then placed in “ore carts” on tracks that are then transported to above-ground mine facilities to be milled and smelted. Stay tuned for next week’s post to learn about milling mineral ore!

[1] http://www.designlife-cycle.com/cellphones

[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/mineral-extraction

Happy Mining Monday! All of these mining photos may have inspired you to explore an abandoned mine but BEWARE! Just on federal land alone, there are 510 abandoned mine sites in north Idaho and there could be many more on private land. However, most of these abandoned mines are dangerous and deadly because they are unmarked and largely unnoticeable - with large holes dropping hundreds of feet or tunnels that give off toxic levels of carbon monoxide. Between 2010 and 2013, forty people died in abandoned mines in the United States due to lack of markings, signs, or warnings. Underground metal mines may seem like a relic of the past, but they continue to affect people through the present. Please be aware of danger before hiking, hunting, or exploring near abandoned mines![1]

[1] http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/sep/20/hidden-pitfalls-closed-north-idaho-mines-are/