Benefiting From Copper: A Mineral Resource for People Everywhere - Essay Sample

Introduction

Almost every country on earth has a mineral resource that its citizens benefits. The benefits range from employment, improved living standards to contributing to a better economy. A mineral resource is a pure inorganic substance that is found naturally on the earth's surface. Examples of minerals include; iron, aluminum, gold and copper. Thus, the mineral resource that human beings interact with often is copper.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Copper is a metal that is red in color and soft in nature (Davis, 56). It was one of the primary metals used in the ancient times, and its name comes from a Greek word Kyprios. It was the name of an island in the Mediterranean sea called the island of Cyprus where copper was majorly found. Its presentation in the periodic table is Cu (Cuprum). Copper conducts heat and electricity in an excellent way. Thus, it is mostly used in the making of flexible cables worldwide Additionally, its softness in nature enables it to be used for tubing in water pipes and central heating systems since copper bends easily to fit around corners. Moreover, it is possible to mix with other copper with other metals to create alloys, e.g. brass and bronze.

Copper is a mineral formed from the deposits of hot Sulphur created from volcanos-the hot solutions cool after being deposited outside the eruptions to form rocks. The rocks enriched with copper are called copper ores (Davis, 34). The removal of the ore from the ground is through underground mines or an open pit. The underground mining involves sinking a shaft into the earth's surface to reach the copper ore. Then horizontal tunnels are driven into the metal to access it.

On the other hand, open pit mining involves mining the minerals found near the earth's surface after the removal of the surface layers of the earth. The ore undergoes crushing into powder. The powder is then enriched through a process called froth floatation where unwanted materials referred to as gangue sinks to the bottom of the tank while, the enriched copper powder floats at the top. Then, the enriched powdered ore is subjected to heating in the air between 500 to 700 degrees Celsius to enable the removal of Sulphur and also dry the metal (Davis, 71). After heating, the ore goes through the smelting process to allow the elimination of impurities forming a matte which is a mixture of liquid copper and iron Sulphide. The method of conversion follows where it is blown in the liquid matte to form blister copper. The blister is then cast into anodes for electrolysis. The process of electrolysis purifies the copper by 99.99% (Jang et al. 623).

Vast reserves of copper are found in the Great Basin of the western United States, Central Canada, the Andes Region of Peru, Chile and Zambia. Thus, as much as copper mining is beneficial to human development, it has adverse effects on the environment. Firstly, the smelting process of copper results in pollution of the environment. It is because the smelting process results in the production of low concentrations of Sulphur dioxide. When the Sulphur dioxide is released into the atmosphere, and it rains, the rainwater combines with Sulphur dioxide which damages crops, trees and buildings (Jang et al. 625). Secondly, copper mining, whether through open pit or underground shafts, results in land degradation, which leaves the land vulnerable to many forms of erosion, e.g. soil and water erosion. Thirdly, the vast areas of natural habitat such as forests are destroyed during the mining process, thus, forcing the animals to leave their habitat.

Conclusion

In summary, copper is an essential mineral in the life of human beings. It has many advantages such as it is used in roofing, wiring and making of coins; however, the mining process brings adverse disadvantages to human health and destruction of the environment. Therefore, people should invent safer ways to enable the mining process to be harmless to both humans and the environment.

Works Cited

Davis, Joseph R., ed. Copper and copper alloys. ASM international, 2001.

Jang, Young-Wook, Ji-Hyun Hong, and Jung-Gu Kim. "Effects of copper on the corrosion properties of low-alloy steel in an acid-chloride environment." Metals and Materials International 15.4 (2009): 623-629.