Just to be clear, regardless of advances in mining equipment, mining remains to be one of (if not) the most difficult and dangerous economic activities. It’s the products of this activity that allow society to function the way it does today. One can only imagine what life would be like without the products of https://outletminers.com/products/iceriver-ks2. Daily activities would be hindered without the production of natural minerals and coal; not to mention its effects on economic activity. Luxuries like jewelry also come as a result of the mining of precious metals.
Methods have developed greatly over the centuries. Matter of fact, major developments happen on a daily basis. New sciences and technologies allow the industry to grow and provide more for the world. Many people are unaware, however, of the methods and procedures that go into the mining process. There are two common excavation techniques used today: surface and sub-surface or underground mining. The more common of the two is surface mining seeing as it produces a majority of the world’s minerals.
Surface mining, as its name might suggest, is the easier of the two. The technique involves the removal of material that can be found on the surface such as vegetation or dirt. If necessary, miners dig into the bedrock to reach the deposits they are aiming for. This technique employs the use of one of five further forms of surface mining. These include strip, open-pit, mountaintop removal, dredging, and high wall mining.
Sub-surface mining, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of surface mining. This technique involves the digging of tunnels deep into the earth’s surface to reach the deposit. The products of this type of process are then brought out through the tunnels and shafts created. Unlike surface mining, which is classified into five forms, sub-surface mining is classified by the type of access shaft used to extract whatever mineral needs extraction.
People tend to confuse the petroleum industry as being part of the mining industry, but this is not the case. It’s easy to confuse the two, considering that the retrieval of petroleum involves the gathering of a product that is below the surface. Petroleum, however, is not mined like other minerals. This is because petroleum is in a liquid state; for it to be retrieved, it needs to be pumped out.
Advancements in mining equipment such as green light laser technology have made it much easier for miners to do their work. Most people are unaware that laser technology plays a big role in the success of any mining operation. Red light lasers used to be the standard, but green light lasers are starting to become more widely used. This is because green light is apparently much stronger than the red light, and is also visible under direct sunlight.
